


Blackout and Reboot

by DarkVioletSunset



Series: Change of Plans [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:40:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 58,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22262731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkVioletSunset/pseuds/DarkVioletSunset
Summary: Joshua Boyd wakes up in his apartment very confused. The only reason he even knows his name is because there's a card with his face on it on the counter. He doesn't remember who he is or anything that brought him up to this point.Marissa is a cop that just happens to find a very lost man standing in the middle of the street in front of her apartment complex. She's not particularly wanting to take on an entire human being as a project, but the way this man acts just makes her curious. Being helpful just ropes her into a whole world she was hoping to stay away from.
Relationships: Marissa Faireborn/Thundercracker
Series: Change of Plans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891432
Comments: 64
Kudos: 201





	1. Eventually...

**Author's Note:**

> Been reading for a long time, finally felt brave enough to try for myself. I'm definitely not an A+ writer, but I enjoyed making this up.

“Wake up!” 

Marissa groaned. Her head pounded from what was probably drugs still in her system. Looking around, she took mental note of her surroundings as best as she could. Large, empty room; three men; dim light; and stale, musty air. She was tied to a metal folding chair by her hands, but not at the feet. All the signs of a basic kidnapping. “Jesus Christ”, she thought, “why can’t it at least be an air conditioned home or something I’m trapped in?” 

Apparently the man that had shouted at her before didn’t like being ignored. He stepped forward and slapped her across the face. She gasped and tried to control her breathing. Freaking out at this time wouldn’t get her anywhere, she just had to wait and see what they wanted. She took a deep breath and exhaled, staring the man in the eyes. 

“Okay, I’m up. What do you want?” 

“You seem pretty cocky for someone who just woke up in a strange place. Do this often?” 

“Oh yeah, all the time. Usually save it for the end of the month to keep my life exciting. Kidnapping is the new date night.” 

“So you probably know why you’re here then.” 

“Obviously trying to steal my world famous cake recipe” 

His eye twitched. “I’d suggest you shut your mouth and take this seriously or I will do more than slap you. You see that table over there?” He gestured to the side of the room, she didn’t turn her head. “It’s there in case you don’t cooperate. We want information on Cybertronian weapons systems.” 

She took another deep breath. Another one of those, except this one was more fanatic. Probably been paid by someone pretty high up to get to her. Marissa lived under EDC supervision mostly due to her status and rank, but refused to stay cooped up. She had military training and several carrying licenses to help keep herself safe. Obviously, she had slipped up and let someone catch her off guard. 

First things first, she needs to stall. She doesn’t know much about actual weapons thanks to the “Tyrest Accord” and the Prime’s refusal to budge on it, but she probably knew something that would get these fuckers rewarded. She wasn’t going let it go that easy. 

“...how long have I been out?” 

“Long enough to remove you from an area where people would be looking for you.” 

“Thought so. Do you know who I am?” 

The man stared at her, then looked back at the other two behind him and back at her. “Marissa Faireborn. Former army and then policewoman. Currently head of the EDC and working with Cybertronian liaisons to earth. You’ve been working with Cybertronians for the last 7 years, so there’s something you can share with us, I’m sure.” 

She felt a slight buzzing under the skin at the base of neck. Someone was tracking her, so she didn’t have to wait much longer. She must have been out a while with the drugs they put in her. “So... I’m guessing if that’s all you know: my titles, then you don’t know my husband.” 

All the men’s heads snapped at attention and stared at her. Being estranged from her parents made her an easier target. She had one friend, no other relatives, and was (supposed to be) single. They had a loose end if she was married. The man in charge decided to call her bluff; he wasn’t going to be distracted from the goal. 

“No. None of the provided documents mentioned your marital status. With our level of information, we would have noticed if you had a husband. You didn’t even change your last name.” 

“Why would I have to change my name to make you believe me? I already did it once. Faireborn is better than Bishop, and much more normal sounding than ‘Of Vos.’” 

“Uhvvas? What kind of stupid made up last name is that? We’re done here. You’re done here. No more stalling. You’re going to answer some questions now, or you will find out what we are capable of. Here’s a hint, it’s much worse than a little drug.” 

Marissa’s body was feeling better now. She just needed the bastard to get a little closer, there was a few tricks up her sleeve before shit hit the fan. The chair she was in was attached to her just by wire ties. How amateur. They may have her files, but they still assumed she was just a paper pusher. Proving them wrong always felt good. Keeping her mouth shut and her eyes focused, she prepared for chaos. The buzzing in her neck felt warm. A few more minutes. 

“...I’ll whisper it to you.” 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you about anything, bitch.” 

The man marched over and extended an arm to grab her with, and as soon as he touched her, she acted. She shot forward towards him, sliding the chair away from with the back of her legs. The top of her head connected with the bottom of his chin, he staggered backwards, she took another step forward and began to spin. The chair swung around and hit him in the side, causing him the trip while disoriented. 

On the other hand, the drugs may have been a lot weaker at this point, but they were still at work. The spin toppled the first guy, but it caused her to slip to the ground as well while the other two advanced to help their comrade. Knowing she was short on time and ideas, Marissa surprised them by screaming at the top her lungs. The men stopped, startled. That gave her long enough to regather her bearings and stand up again after slipping her arms under to legs to face them easier. Her next move surprised them more than her shout: she rushed them. One of them stepped back, but the other one was trying to help the fallen man and got a chair to the head as she swung at them again. 

“Two down.” She grinned, sweat rolling off her brow as consciousness struggled to stay at the forefront of her brain. 

Goon number three looked down at the other bloody guys on the floor. None were knocked out, but all of them were shellshocked. This woman was supposed to be hardly able to move, not whip them with a metal chair. The remaining man saw she breathing hard, and decided it was time to stop this nonsense. They weren’t going to get paid if they couldn’t get any info. He began to rush her. 

BOOM. 

A muffled crash came from the front of the building. All four of them looked towards the noise. “What was that?” One of them asked shakily through what was probably a broken nose.  
“Don’t know. No one knows we’re here. We weren’t followed either.” 

BOOM. 

The second crash was closer, and followed by what sounded like metal creaking against itself.  
“Shit, this is a bigger building than I thought if it’s taking him that long to get here.” She mused to herself. 

The kidnappers turned from the noise and looked at her as if she had grown another head. “What are you talking about?” 

BOOM. 

“Marissa!” A huge voice called out from the other side of the wall. 

“In here!” 

The kidnappers got way more than a bargained for when they took Marissa Faireborn. They assumed she was just working with Cybertronians because of her job, and because she was human, the relations stopped there. One thing her files never mentioned was her stint as a “handler.” When in the lower ranks of the EDC, Cybertronians and humans were paired together. Mostly it turned into the human just giving the Transformer orders and going on short military missions. Hers was a special case, and it was very classified one. 

Very few knew she had been a handler. Fewer knew who she was paired with. She liked it this way, there was still several stigmas attached to him as a member of the former enemy faction. Marissa wouldn’t have it any other way in the end. 

She wasn’t panicking, not at all; but it felt as though she had been holding her breath, and couldn’t breathe normally until now. Marissa swore the sight of the wall crumbling and revealing a huge mechanical being was the best thing she ever saw and ever would see. The dim light of the building caused the room to be ingulfed in crimson as he swept his eyes towards them, towering wings blocking the view behind. 

The three men hadn’t moved since the last crash, unable to move in fear. They were hired to get information on Cybertronians, but never had expected to actually meet one. This one was well over 35 feet tall, mostly a dark blue, and terrifying red optics. Weapons popped out at his wrists and the sound of his engines and inner workings filled the silence of the room. They waited to be crushed, stepped on, or shot, but it never came. Instead, they were surprised when the giant threw his head back and began laughing. 

“What has she done to you? Oh Primus, I knew she could take care of herself, but this is amazing. I almost didn’t need to come after all.” 

The chair made a scraping sound as Marissa walked towards him.  
“I’m fucking glad you did! I need to be taken to a hospital, and these guys need to be taken to headquarters. There’s a lot that needs to be answered for.” She shouted up at him. “Pick me up, we need to go.” 

The alien kneeled down and presented his palm to her, she climbed on and was immediately deposited onto his shoulder. She held onto him as he grabbed rope from his subspace and jerked towards the men, who had began to try to sneak away. He chopped his hand into the concrete in front of them and growled, “I’d stay very still if I were you.” He looked like the killing machine those from his race was rumored to be. Tying them up was easy after that. 

He stood up and walked out of the holes in the walls he had made, holding the kidnappers in one fist, and using the other to keep Marissa steady on his shoulder. He activated his comm link and called HQ. They were on their way. 

The man who had avoided getting his by the chair looked up at their captor, and felt a burning need to know who this thing was. “Who are you?” 

The blue jet looked down at him. “Why do you think I’d tell you that? Doesn’t matter.” He paused for effect. Marissa smiled, it was so like him to dramatize anything. 

“But if you must know, I’m Thundercracker. Of Vos.” 

The man’s face blanched as he recalled Marissa’s taunts. This was probably the worst job they could have taken.


	2. Why me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess I should have made it clearer that the first chapter was of the two of them after this story's adventures are over. Here's pre-adventure TC!

_8 years prior._

Footsteps echoed as Thundercracker made his way down the Nemesis hallway towards the command center. He had been roused from recharge with the summons flashing on his HUD, and Starscream pinging him incessantly. Being summoned by Megatron was not exactly a good thing, unless you were Starscream or Soundwave. Even then, it might be a bad idea to be in those meetings. 

Either way, he was not looking forward to what anyone had to say. It had been nearly 3 years living under the ocean, and no one was in a good mood ever anymore. Rations and morale were at an all time low. 

He paused outside the door, straightened his back struts, and began to march through with his head and wings high. No matter who was behind the door, be it a grunt or Lord Megatron himself, he had to keep up appearances. As a part of the Command Trine, and the unofficial right hand to the Second in Command, it was required of him to act the part. He didn’t particularly care for power, but the respect from the crew and ease with which he could move around the ship was appreciated. 

“So glad you could finally be bothered to answer my hails, Thundercracker.” 

Right before he actually went inside, he turned around to meet the unmistakable voice of his trine leader. 

“Excuse me for recharging at my allotted time, Starscream. I thought we were trying to conserve energy.” 

“Regardless, you are expected to respond to my comms immediately. What took you so long to get here?” 

“It’s common knowledge that it is hard to wake up when you’re low on fuel.” He rolled his optics. “Why are we doing this? I’m here now. Let’s just get on with it.” 

“Of course.” 

Thundercracker let Starscream take the lead as they went through the door. Megatron sat upon his throne with a datapad in hand. Soundwave stood beside him on the left, watching the newcomers approach. Shockwave was on a computer to the side, the plans or blueprints on his computer too far away to make sense. Even though the room was one of the most spacious on the ship, the blue seeker always felt claustrophobic when he came in. Too many bad decisions and bad news were discussed here. Too many deaths, too many eulogies, too many shots fired for a control room. The weight of Megatron’s gaze and ideals felt heavy on his shoulders whenever he was here. He never could pinpoint why until recently. 

Megatron looked up as they came near, looking threatening as always, but as members of his command, everyone in the room recognized he was tired as well. The fuel shortage was hitting everyone hard. 

“Where is the final member of your trine?” Megatron’s deep voice rumbled across the room. “I need to have all parties involved in this plan to be here.” 

Starscream waved his hand to the side, “He will be here momentarily. He can warp here much faster than we can walk, after all. Probably just waiting until the last minute.” 

Thundercracker looked sideways at Starscream and pinged him, :This involves the entirety of Decepticon Command here on Earth? Did we finally find a way to get some energon without killing ourselves?: 

Starscream opted to remain facing forward as though ignoring Thundercracker. :One can only hope our dear leader has figured something out. A battle of attrition is the last thing we needed. We are only lucky to last so long with the rationing.: 

With a _crack_ and a _vop_ , Skywarp landed on the other side of Starscream. “My lord,” he said bowing on one knee, “forgive my lateness.” 

Megatron stood, placing the datapad to the side and ignoring Skywarp. “Soundwave.” He gestured to his communications officer. 

Soundwave walked forward and opened up a holovid of what looked to be footage that Lazerbeak would have taken on one of her scouting missions. Thundercracker was unaware that Soundwave was even still sending her out. Not much could have possibly changed in the last 6 months. The view on the vid was of organic trees covering the area. He absentmindedly tried to remember what the humans called it. A forest? That sounded right. 

Soundwave stepped forward and began his report about the vid. “Observation: previously, when we had surveyed the area surrounding the city nearby, there seemed to be no large energy source barring the electricity plants. Two days ago, Lazerbeak realized there were shipments of some kind going into the trees and not coming out. After staking out the path, she discovered there is a well-hidden entrance at the bottom of the mountain. The Autobots, even though their base of operations is near, seem to be just as unaware as we were. No activity has been noted from them.” 

Starscream took the chance of interject, “So what? All you’ve shown us is a hidden door we currently lack the power to break though.” 

“Patience, Starscream.” Megatron waved his hand in a dismissive manner, “Soundwave has yet to finish his report.” 

Soundwave continued as though the interruption didn’t happen. “After Lazerbeak hacked into their systems from the electric plant, she noted that a large portion of it was being directed to the area inside the mountain. Further investigation revealed there is a “factory” of some kind mentioned in local government data. Very little information of the type of work done down there can be extrapolated from this.” 

Once again, Starscream spoke up. “Again, we don’t have the power to investigate further. We are all low of fuel, even with rationing. Yes, it sounds promising, especially since the humans are trying to hide such large energy diversion, but I fail to see how this helps us as it is now.” 

This time Shockwave turned around in his chair and came to the foot of the throne. “My lord,” He addressed Megatron, “I have completed the prototype.” 

“Excellent.” 

Shockwave held out his hand to Megatron with some trinket inside his palm. Megatron used his thumb and finger to hold whatever it was up. Thundercracker squinted, it looked like a tiny orb with strings hanging from it. 

“I have commissioned Shockwave to make an infiltration holoform unlike any made before. We all have holoforms, but in the end, they are cold light forms that can easily be recognized if a human were to get too close. This one is meant to mimic a human exactly. To wear clothing, to breathe, to feel organic.” 

“Gross.” Came a disgusted comment from Skywarp. 

“Thundercracker.” Megatron called out. 

Thundercracker looked away from the object. “My lord?” 

“You are familiar with human entertainment and media, are you not?” 

Skywarp snickered as Thundercracker squirmed. “I... yes sir. I find them a good way to pass the time without spending a lot of energy.” 

“Have you created a holoform before?” 

“No, sir. I have never had or felt the need to. Organics are too weak in their natural state to tempt me to even try.” 

“Understandable. You will be the one to test this out.” 

Thundercracker looked up confused, unsure about what he had just been assigned. “What... is it that I am going to be testing?” 

“You will be the infiltrator and feel out this factory. Find out if there is anything of worth to us, and if there is, get us in with minimal trouble. We need energon, and if there is something we can synthesize into energon down there that will yield more than a simple electrical plant, we need it as soon as possible.” 

The entire Command Trine balked at the assignment. They all began talking at once. 

“You can’t just take one of my trine away!” 

“Wouldn’t Makeshift make more sense for this job?” 

“I’m not an assassin or a hacker.” 

“He’s necessary here!” 

“Thundercracker wouldn’t last a day out there.” 

“Why me?” 

Megatron put his hands to his temples to shut out the noise. “If you will all just be silent for a moment I will explain my reasoning!” The room quieted. “I will answer the questions you just posed first of all. One: I can and will use one of your trine to further our cause. Two: Makeshift is an excellent infiltrator. For Cybertronions. He has no interest and knows next to nothing about the human race and we don’t have the time to fill him in on everything we need. Three: The Command Trine has been in contact with humans more than others, but out of the three of you, Thundercracker is easily the most level headed and knowledgeable. I am also not about to send Starscream out, as he is my Second and I cannot trust him to keep appearances up around humans for long at all. Skywarp is also not going due to the fact that his warp engine burns up a lot more fuel than normal, and infiltration requires that he can save fuel. Thundercracker, not only do you know the most about humans, but I trust you to be able to bring back the information that I need.” 

The room was silent. Starscream clenched his denta and shot a look at Soundwave. “You advised him on this, didn’t you!” 

Soundwave did not waver. “Priority: Energon. Thundercracker is wise enough to know how to conserve, and his outlier ability does not hinder the operation. As one of the Command Trine, he is trusted to further the Decepticon Cause.” 

Thundercracker looked at the floor. The Cause. These days it seemed like The Cause was used as a rationalization or a weak motivator. Back when they had enough energy, “The Cause” was put on hold to gather energon, somewhere along the line, Thundercracker noticed that attacking the humans themselves seemed more and more integrated in their operations, even if they went out of their way to hurt them. The humans were weak, but it seemed that an unspoken addendum had been added to The Cause: form does not equal function, and organics weaker than you are deserving of domination. Too many of his comrades had fallen into enjoying inflicting death and destruction just for the sake of death and destruction. Thundercracker had begun to feel out of place, but Megatron had been leading for so long, so surely he knew what he was doing and had a plan for it? 

“When do you plan on sending me out?” 

Starscream glared at him, “You’re not!” 

“I am. Lord Megatron requested me. I would not be a good soldier if I were to disobey an order.” He turned towards the throne. “Do I need to prepare anything?” 

Megatron grinned, “Soon, Shockwave will need to fine tune the programming and install the holoform communicator inside your processor for this to work. Work with Soundwave to set up an identity that you will be using during your time there. Dismissed” 

Megatron immediately picked up the previously discarded datapad to his side and began studying it, letting everyone know this topic was not up for discussion. Thundercracker made his way over to Soundwave to see what needed to be done. 

“Thundercracker: Will use this datapad to make notes for what one needs to survive as a human alone. Such as currency, ID’s, communication devices, housing, etc. Report to me in three days with sufficient information for me to process and set up a human identity.” 

Thundercracker walked out of the command center and found his trine waiting for him. They looked at each other for a moment before walking away together. 

“What’s your fuel level?” 

Thundercracker startled a little when Starscream asked him a question. “What?” 

“What’s your fuel level? I’d rather refuel now before we get to work. If you’re at 30%, then you can claim your rations.” 

“Get to work? I don’t...” 

“Skywarp, don’t you dare waste fuel on a warp. We’re walking.” 

“You’re right.” Skywarp powered down his drive. 

Starscream looked over at Thundercracker again. “We will be helping you construct an organic identity. Humans are confusing creatures, and I’m not about to be taking any blame for your shortcomings if you frag up the mission.” 

\----- 

“What? Humans don’t have names like that. Nobody does.” 

“Yes, they do! There’s this guy who runs a giant corporation of computer works, and his name is Jobs! There’s another guy who’s name is Gates.” 

“But Gates doesn't make fences or gates. He also makes computers.” 

“But on this vid, the hero is called Powers, and the villain is named Dr. Evil. Humans have very straightforward names!” 

Skywarp slumped in his seat, tired of arguing. Why were organics so confusing? Thundercracker was also being very stubborn about all this. He barely remembered, but he did recall the Autobot’s human friend’s name was weird, and that there definitely no way his last name correlated with his job. Witwicky was not a job or occupation. 

“Look,” He said, leaning forward, “It would be like naming Megatron ‘Decepticon Leader’ or Starscream ‘Upset Jet.’ It makes no sense no matter how you put it!” 

Thundercracker threw his hands up, exasperated. “I didn’t create humans, and I definitely didn’t decide how they should be named! I know it’s stupid, but I didn’t make these rules.” 

They had been arguing about the name for a day and a half. Time was almost up. Figuring out how housing worked, what currency they would be needing, and how a human generally acts were much easier. Soundwave still needed an actual identity to create fake IDs for the infiltration. 

They stared at each other, frustrated beyond belief. The stress of losing Thundercracker aboard the Nemesis would be felt immediately. Starscream especially would miss the extra power and prudent deliberations. 

Starscream entered their quarters. Due to his scientific background, he had been working with Shockwave to finish the infiltration device. He threw a data pad over to Thundercracker, “Here. This is your new face.” 

The blue jet squinted at his trine leader, “You made me a holoform?” 

“Yes. You’re taking so long on that pit damned name that I took the liberty of making it so we can meet the deadline. Look at it. You can change a few things, but not much.” 

The face staring back at him had olive brown colored skin, red eyes, and black hair. He noticed that Starscream simply had downloaded a picture of Thundercracker’s face and constructed a human face around it, changing his actual look minimally. It was eerie seeing his face while not being his face. The nose was sharp and straight, the cheekbones were high, framing his eyes deeply. 

“I don’t think humans have red eyes. Just change them to a light brown. That color matches with the rest of it.” 

“Fine, good. Now, how is the name going? I hope you’re still not trying to convince us that ‘Guy Trustworthy’ is a good name.” 

“No.” Skywarp voiced his irritation. “He’s now moved on to ‘Josh Boyfriend.’” 

Starscream rolled his optics. “Closer, thankfully. Although, Josh isn’t even a full name, it’s shortened from Joshua. And boyfriend... what’s a boyfriend?” 

Thundercracker thought about how to explain it. “I think it’s kind of like an amica. I think. Either way, a boyfriend is someone you trust or are close to.” 

The red and white flyer groaned and rested his head on his fist. “If you’re so insistent on using a dumb name, at least use this.” He sent a screenshot from one of their outings over the city. It was a billboard with “BOYD REAL ESTATE” written in large letters. “If we change Josh to Joshua, and since this word is so close, just change Boyfriend to Boyd. It would make a lot more sense for someone to be named ‘Joshua Boyd’ instead of ‘Josh Boyfriend.’” 

They all looked at the avatar Starscream had created and put the name underneath it. Yes, this could work. This looks like someone who could actually exist. 

\----- 

After Shockwave and Hook had finished hooking up the holoform communications device in his head, Megatron summoned Thundercracker for briefing. The only ones in the command center were him, Megatron, and Soundwave. A large holomap was set up between them. 

Megatron began to explain that Thundercracker would need to be within a certain radius of his actual body in order for the holoform to function properly. There was already a hiding spot chosen in the nearby woods to hide him in. Soundwave told him that the “body” had already been shipped to his temporary living space, and once he powered down and activated it, he would wake up there. The body was equipped with a small synthesizer so it can use organic food to continue operating. 

“Timeline: Nine months. We do not expect immediate results from an infiltration mission, but we need them sooner than later. You will not report back to us unless you are in danger of death, found out, or the time is up. You will find a way into the factory and figure out a usage for the power.” 

Thundercracker was a little relieved. Nine months wasn’t long in the scheme of things. Get in, get power, get out. He could do that. 

“Will anyone besides us know my location?” 

“Negative. It will be kept between us to ensure chance of exposure will be kept to a minimum.” 

Megatron placed a hand on his shoulder, “I have every confidence you will succeed. Do not fail me or the Decepticons. Fuel up completely, and fly out.” 

\----- 

Thundercracker landed in the designated clearing, and transformed into his alt mode. There was some dirt, grim, and foliage he had covered himself in to help camouflage himself. Soundwave had chosen this area because it was far from any human cities, houses, or roads, so the chances of being found out was slim. 

After admiring the sky he so seldom got to see, he began powering down and going in energy saving mode before activating the holoform communicator. A searing pain raced through his processor as the communicator powered on. His joints locked up and kept him from moving to writhe in agony. As the communicator finished and began sending information to the body, he felt his consciousness slipping away, the pain just a dull throbbing now. His last thought was, “I wish there had been enough time for a field test.” 

Everything went black and quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote and edited this myself with a massive migraine. Hopefully there aren't a million grammatical issues I missed.  
> Fun fact: The Boyd Real Estate billboard was something I drove by all the time as a child where I grew up.


	3. Why not me?

A loud noise from outside her apartment door woke Marissa up around 7:30 am. She clutched the pillow tighter around her head, trying to shut out anything else that could pull her closer to the waking world. Another thump sounded. One would think that living on the 6th floor would mean it would be a bit quieter because it was away from the ground. With a groan, the auburn-haired woman rose up out of her bed and started wandering to her bathroom to start getting ready for the day. Her shift began at 9 am, so it wouldn't hurt to maybe have breakfast this time before going in. After brushing her teeth, she went to the living room to turn on the TV while searching the fridge. 

The reporter on the news was introducing a statement from the air force and army about their investigations on the mysterious attacks in the past few years. “There has been no sign of the strangely marked vehicles in the past few months. During this time, the army has in inspecting their tanks and even their armored vehicles for any sign of tampering. The air force claims the fighter jets previously seen were not cleared to fly and did not answer their hails.” 

This crap again. While she knew why authorities couldn’t just come out and say they had no idea what had been going on for years, she couldn’t believe they were spouting the same old stuff and calling it “news.” The President herself had come out at the very beginning with a speech that “These attacks will not be tolerated” and whatnot. But no matter how hard the military tried to quell it, but the conspiracy theorists on the internet seemed to be spreading their beliefs more and more. No one could avoid seeing the blurry photos taken of what seemed to be blocky giants in the distance. A few people had even claimed to be involved in attacks from these creatures. As a cop, she had to investigate several false alarms from people’s allegations that they too, had seen the monsters. They always ended up with no evidence to back it up or absolutely crazy. 

To her, it sounded like a few too many people had nothing better to do. Giant machines? Probably natural disasters like that oil rig that went down a few years ago. 

She sipped her coffee and rummaged for a bagel in the pantry. The thumps and scraping from across the hallway continued. Even though she was awake, it was still unpleasant to listen to. It had to stop. She opened the door just to come face to face with a large box. 

“Wha...? Hello?” 

No answer. She peeked around. A large man carrying another box was entering apartment 611, the one across from hers. He finally saw her, “Ah, can I help you?” 

“Well, no, not anymore. I thought that one of the neighbor’s kids was playing in the hallway again. Someone moving in?” 

The man snorted, “Yes. He’s not here though. He hired us to take his things to the apartment first. As I understand, you’ll have your new neighbor by this evening. We have to be done before then.” 

Well, that answered her question, and this man didn’t seem to be up for small talk. She needed to get ready for work anyway. She just nodded and went back into her apartment. At least she would be able to get back into her door without any boxes in the way when her shift was over. Marissa closed the door and began her morning routine. 

Twenty minutes later, she was walking to her car. The movers seemed to be finishing up with one last box. A passing thought was that it very nearly looked like a coffin. Thank god she wasn’t going to be around for the unpacking of everything. One could only hope they were the quiet kind that didn’t have any kids. She had gotten used to not having a neighbor living directly across from her. 

Marissa walked into the station fifteen minutes before her patrol shift. The chief was calling for some sort of meeting before hand, so everyone had to be there a little early. Ayana was on the same shift, so at least she could chat a little before heading out. Sitting down, she sipped on another cup of coffee while waiting for Chief Burns to come in. With her hair tied back, she should have guessed Ayana would tug on it as a greeting. 

“Hey! Good morning. I’m not even going to guess what number cup that is.” 

“Only the third one. How’s it going?” 

“Can’t complain. Ready to get this day over with though. I’m off tomorrow.” 

“Must be nice. I’m glad I have to work a few more days. I got a new neighbor moving in and I’m not ready for that kind of commitment.” 

“Commitment to a neighbor?” 

“Yes! What if they want to say hi or are the chatty type?” 

“That’s only reality TV shows. No one actually does that anymore.” 

Chief Burns finally showed at that moment. He said a quick good morning to the officers, and turned to the projector. He didn’t move to set it up, just hovered his hand over the on button, before turning back around and sighing. “I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but starting next month, the city has voted to cut the police force pension.” 

A cry of outrage from the policemen and women went up. 

“I thought we beat that!” 

“They can’t do that to us!” 

“I’ll bet the fire department didn’t get cut.” 

Marissa and Ayana sighed. They saw this coming. No one was entirely sure where the extra money was going to go after the police department’s pension was cut. The mayor probably had people up his sleeve giving him money or votes. 

Chief Burns calmed them down as best as he could, “We will be making another bill to try and circumvent this as soon as possible. Maybe even a lawsuit. The city can’t do this forever. They’ve cut pensions from others, but the people won’t accept this anymore.” 

“Then why’d they vote for this one?” 

And the arguments continued. Burns sternly told everyone to calm down and dismissed them. He could see nothing else was going to be done today. 

\----- 

She kept a calm composure while driving around on patrol. On the inside, Marissa was fuming. Was the city determined to make her work after retirement?! Bad enough she couldn’t stay in the army reserves after her injury. Now Mayor Luskey was pulling this shit. Count on him to make her life just a little harder. She pulled over to a gas station to pick up a snack. 

Speaking of making her life hard, the phone rang with the name of the person she last wanted to talk to. 

“Hello, Claire.” 

“Marissa.” Her mother sounded half asleep over the phone. “How are you doing?” 

“What do you want, mother.” 

“Can’t I call just to see how you are doing?” 

“No. You’ve made it all too clear in the past what you actually want from me whenever we talk. I’m not ‘lending’ you any more money.” 

“How rude! You didn’t even know if that’s why I called.” 

“Am I wrong?” 

“... is there any way you can cover me for some food this weekend?” 

“Stop lying! I know what you spend it on! You’re drunk right now! And it’s 1:30 in the afternoon there!” She took a breath; they weren’t going to get anywhere arguing. Nothing was going to change. “Claire, I’m not a bank, I’m a human being. I can’t help you anymore.” 

She hung up with a sigh. One piece of bad news after another. There was a time when she was younger and thought she would have her life together and making good money to help her mom out. At 26 years old now, she had learned the hard way that her mother wasn’t interested in a better life or even Marissa herself. She had left home as soon as she could, joining the Army to get away. Nearly four years and a couple of metal screws in her arm from an injury later, she was back. Honorably discharged due to a loss of movement in her left arm. Thankfully not bad enough for the police department to accept her. 

So here she was. Officer Faireborn patrolling the streets, just wanting to go home and figure anything, everything out. Maybe she needed to move, but moving from New York hadn’t allowed her escape her mother. Or the corrupt city officials, for that matter. If she had been better at lying, she should have been a politician and made changes that way. 

Only seven more hours to go until she headed home. Seven more hours to patrol and overthink everything. 

\----- 

The rest of the patrol went by with very little happening. After the shift, she swung by to get some fast food because cooking didn’t feel like an option tonight. By the time Marissa rounded the corner near the apartment’s driveway, it was getting dark. The lights on the street weren’t all turned on yet, but it still required the headlights on her car to be turned on. She hoped to god that the neighbor was done moving for the night. 

She passed by the front entrance of her apartment complex. Unexpectedly, a man ran out the front doors and on the street in the path of her car and then just stopped. Marissa never slammed on the brakes so hard in her life. The man simply stood there staring into the city with a wide-eyed look on his face. Breathing hard, the police woman took a good look at the man. Well, as good a look as one can get at dusk. Very tall, lanky, but a muscular build, with dark hair. 

And he was naked. 

Sure, why not. It was already a bad day, so why not her? Why not throw a weirdo in front of her? 

Marissa made an audible gasp and honked the horn at him. The stranger jumped, but turned towards her car and then leaned over and placed his palms flat on the hood. He surprised her even more when he shouted at her. 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” 

Marissa got out of the car, thinking that maybe he didn’t see her uniform and he’d calm down after realizing he was talking to an officer. He did not. He took his hands off the car and backed away a little. 

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!” 

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to cover yourself with something.” 

For some reason, that seemed to be the thing that calmed him down a little. He looked back at the car, then back at her, then to himself. He seemed to realize he wasn’t wearing anything and looked at here with a shocked look. "I... wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the car.” 

Marissa had no words. There was nothing in the world that could have prepared her for a naked man saying that sentence like _that_ was the most obvious thing to comment on. Finally having enough of trying to avert her eyes, she stuck her head back in her car and grabbed a towel she had forgotten to take to her locker this morning and tossed to him. Usually turning her back on a stranger would raise alarms in her head, but he seemed docile enough. “Please, put this on.” 

He caught it and wrapped his shoulders in it. The cop really didn’t want to get closer, but seriously. 

“A little lower, please.” 

She grabbed it and guided it to his waist where he finally caught on and held it there. “Where are you from?” 

He pointed to her apartment complex, “I came from there.” 

Alright, dumb question. She had seen that part. “OK, what apartment?” 

“Uh, well. I was a bit lost when I came out of the room, but I think the door had the number 611 on it.” 

Oh god. This was her new neighbor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK! The stage is set. I have a long work week ahead of me I won't have time to work on this for a little bit, so I wanted to post this before I lose control of my life for a while.


	4. The Neighbor

“Sir? You’re going to want to see this.” 

A tall figure stalked over to the young man at the computer. He stared at the screen, amazed by what he saw. “These readings are accurate?” 

“Yes sir. After our informant tuned our trackers and instruments for their energy signatures, it’s been very easy to narrow down the results.” 

“This one looks weak. The numbers are low.” 

“Agreed, sir. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s definitely one of _them._ ” 

An evil grin spread across the man in charge’s face. “Perfect. Move in carefully, and collect any and all information. It’s sure to be disguised as a vehicle of some kind, so pay attention to everything.” 

\----- 

He woke up in a blind panic and felt like he was choking until he realized it was just breathing. Forcing himself to calm down a little, he tried to remember what was making him so worried and drew a blank. Actually, everything was blank. Nothing came to mind, even his name. Feeling panic rising again, the man stood up and began pacing. Or would have had he not immediately fell on his front, barely catching himself before his face met the floor. That was weird. It felt like he had over-corrected for something by leaning forward. He reached to his back expecting to find something weighing him down but found just his bare back. 

Obviously, he wasn’t going to figure anything out if he kept freaking out. Stabilizing himself against the piece of furniture he woke up near, he finally stood up. The room he was in was not very small, but clearly meant as a living space for only one or maybe two people. The window was open, letting in a cool breeze. He involuntarily shivered when the wind hit him. He heard a flutter from the table centered in the middle of the next room. Walking over, he picked up some papers that had a card attached to it. It had a face on it and a name. A white device about as big as his hand laid on the table, it seemed to be turned off for now. More papers were on the table, but he didn’t feel like he had the focus reading giant block of text right now. 

Moving to the next room, he found a bed with no sheets or pillows. All in all, the rooms in the living area seemed very sparse. The man turned around and found himself facing a mirror. It surprised him at first because he thought it was someone else, but quickly realized it was just himself. Speaking of himself, he looked over the figure in the mirror, trying to recall anything from his mind. He had no one to measure himself against, but he seemed pretty tall. He had dark hair but light hazel eyes. Suddenly, it struck him he had just seen this face. There was a card on the table! He ran back and grabbed the item from the paper it was stuck to and read it out loud. 

“Joshua Boyd.” The name seemed a little familiar. He felt a small rush of accomplishment at figuring something out. In the back of his mind, he felt another thought rise to the surface. 

“Josh.” That sounded more right. 

It was time to go outside. There had to be something more out there that could give him more answers. He opened the door in the front of the first room and found himself in a hallway. Josh saw another door in front of him with the number 612 on it. Looking behind him, Josh saw his door had 611 on it. Alright, he had somewhere to return to. He hoped he could remember that, everything was so confusing. He walked down the hallway until he found some stairs, and continued down several flights until it finally ended. Rounding the corner at the bottom, he began panicking again when a nagging notion was telling him that everything was too big, too foreign to be comfortable. He ran out of another door that lead outside and stood stock still, overwhelmed by the sight of the unfamiliar city in front of him. 

Nothing looked right, nothing sparked any idea of who he was or what was happening. All the relief of remembering his name was quickly draining away with hopelessness replacing it. 

A loud noise brought him out of his stupor, a bright light was racing towards him! He couldn’t move. His legs weren’t working. The light stopped right in front of him, and let out a deafening honk. It was a vehicle! A car style he didn’t recognize, but understood the basics of what made it a car. After identifying what had effectively shouted at him, he just felt angry. He was already having a terrible time, whoever this was needed to calm down. Raising his voice, Josh shouted at the car. 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” 

The car didn’t answer. Did not even give him the courtesy of responding. Josh was about to shout at him again, when suddenly the door of the vehicle opened and a woman stepped out with an angry expression on her face. For whatever reason, this surprised him even more than the car honking at him. 

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!” 

\----- 

While walking down her apartment hallway in silence, Marissa very nearly ran into the decorative table with the ugly vase that against near the wall. It always annoyed her; the vase had a terrible zig-zag yellow and orange pattern and the table was just a little too big for the hallway. She would almost always hit the table if she wasn’t paying attention. Like now. 

Marissa lead the stranger back to his apartment, so focused on arriving at the destination that she hit her thigh on the table. Sucking her pain through her teeth, she told herself that throwing the hideous vase wasn’t going to solve any problems. Sure enough, the door to 611 had been left open. The man had introduced himself as Josh, but explained that was all that remembered. She fought so hard to keep a skeptical look off her face or rolling her eyes as he mumbled his apologies. 

“Look, I know you don’t know where you are or what’s happening, but it’s publicly unacceptable to walk around without clothing, sir.” 

“I honestly didn’t think about it. Maybe someday you should try forgetting everything and staying calm.” 

Marissa gave him an incredulous look. This man was seriously arguing with an officer of the law. He was completely crazy, and lucky no one but her had seen him without the towel. This “Josh” was walking a thin line. If he wasn’t convincing her of his complete and total lack of memory, she’d turn him in right now. She would give him a chance. One chance. The naked thing would not happen again. 

“Alright, here’s your room. Do you need help finding your clothes?” She asked with barely restrained sarcasm. 

“I mean, if you want to. Or maybe you can make more sense than me from the bunch of papers with my name on them.” 

Taking a deep breath, she supposed maybe she could try to help her neighbor. She would be stuck living next to him, and if bumping into him made life miserable, helping him would be in her best interest. “Fine. I’ll see what you have. Only if you get dressed.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” 

He walked off into another room where he began rummaging around several bags and drawers. Something fell on the floor with a crash. 

Choosing to ignore the noise, she picked up the aforementioned papers and looked them over. Joshua Boyd, 30 years old, living address, this was a basic picture ID card. Not even a driver’s license. The other stack was a copy of the apartment lease, and an envelope that looked like it had a debit card in it. A phone sat to the side. She picked it up and turned it on. It had service, but nothing but the basics were on it. No contacts, no pictures, and no recent calls. 

“Find anything out?” 

Josh walked out of the room dressed in a basic t-shirt and black jeans. This made it infinitely easier to talk to him. He gestured to the phone in her hand. “I glanced at it before I left the room, but couldn’t make much out from it because I was so confused.” 

The cop picked up his ID first. “This is your ID card. You’ll need to use it to buy certain things or prove that you’re you.” 

“Alright, who am I?” 

“I probably can’t tell you any more than you can read for yourself.” She handed the card over to him. “You told me you saw a card that made you remember your name. I’m assuming this is what you were talking about.” 

“Yeah, this is the one.” He took the card and stared at it again. “I’m happy to know my name, but that still not much to go by.” With a sigh, he spoke again. “When I woke up, I was so scared. It felt like something had gone horribly wrong right before that.” 

Marissa looked at him, suddenly feeling very tired. This amnesiac really needed help. “Look, I’ll see what I can do tomorrow. I’m part of the police, maybe I can find something on you in our files or in the computer. I’m not supposed to do that, but I can ask the chief if it’s possible.” 

The man’s face beamed at this suggestion. “That sounds like a start. Thank you so much. Can I come with you?” 

“I have to get up early, but here’s the address to the station you can find me at tomorrow. You don’t have a license to drive, so just call for transportation by taxi or one of the online services.” 

She stuck her hand out, “Marissa Faireborn, by the way. I just realized I never introduced myself. I live right across from you.” 

He met her hand with a shake, “Josh Boyd. I live here, I guess.” 

\----- 

Josh watched her leave and close the door behind her, feeling a bit lonely but also a bit less lost. Wearing clothes was a good start, it was much warmer this way. Speaking of warmer, he never had shut the window he noticed previously. Walking over to it, he looked outside into the dark night. Lights from the city were everywhere, blinking like a million eyes watching him. The scene made him uncomfortable. He shut the window. 

He went back to what he had deemed his bedroom and laid down. Even though he had just woken up an hour or so ago, he felt exhausted. Being unconscious for a while sounded so appealing right now. The mind was a complex thing, memories weren’t going to just come back when he willed it. There had to be a trigger out there. One could only hope that it was found sooner than later. 

Closing his eyes, he felt himself relax, reflecting that Marissa had said she’d try to help him tomorrow. At least he had ran into someone that was willing to lend a hand. Even though she had been a bit acrid, he supposed he deserved it for almost making her crash into him. Josh decided not a think too much about it and get some rest. He would worry about everything even more tomorrow. 

\----- 

It had taken him a bit to figure out how to use the phone, but it really wasn’t that hard. Being a passenger in a car, that was weird. He felt so out of place and cramped, like he wasn’t supposed to be inside the cab. Josh let out a breath in relief after exiting. He walked into the police station that was at the address provided. There was a man at the font counter that gave him a once over as he approached. “Can I help you?” 

Josh gave a smile and tried to sound relaxed. “I was hoping to talk to Officer Faireborn.” 

The secretary didn’t answer and picked up the phone beside him and pressed a few buttons. “Faireborn to the front desk.” He looked back at Josh. “You can wait over there.” 

Josh squinted at the man and walked away. 

It didn’t take long for Marissa to come fetch him. “You made it. Come on, I have permission from Chief Burns. We can treat it like a missing persons search. Did you bring your ID? I’ll need it to narrow results down.” 

They made their way over to her desk and took a seat across from her. Handing over his ID, he tried not to look too hopeful. The police woman enter information from his ID and stared at the computer. “There’s... not much here at all.” 

“What?” 

“I mean, all this says is basically that you exist. There’s no past addresses or names here.” 

He kept a stony expression. Josh felt like there was no more options. If the local law enforcement didn’t know anything, who would? He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes. Marissa leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, we’ll figure something out.” 

The forlorn man looked up at her. “How do you know? You don’t know me, and you can’t help me anymore. I’m just going home. Thank you for trying.” He stood to leave. 

“Wait!” Marissa sighed awkwardly. “I’m sorry. This can’t be easy. Look, here’s my phone number. If you need a little help, I’ll see what I can do.” 

Josh gave a weak smile. “Thanks. I’ll see you at the apartments.” 

\----- 

A figure stood across the street from the police station holding his phone to his ear. “Yes sir, that’s what I’m saying.” 

The voice on the other end sounded disbelieving. “That doesn’t sound possible. Nothing like this has ever been recorded or observed. Are you sure the taxi isn’t what you were tracking?” 

“Of course. I followed the signal to the station, and when the taxi left, the signal remained. There was only one person that left the car. I recommended further observation.” 

A grunt on the other end of the line, “I suppose so. Continue to report back to me with any new information. If what you say turns out to be true, this project just got a lot more interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens.


	5. The Start of the Collision Course

Marissa was at work typing up a few reports thanks to some habitual speeders. They had hassled her when she was writing them the ticket, telling her that they weren’t going that fast. The cop just deadpanned that if 20 mph over the limit in the suburbs wasn’t “that much over the limit,” then they needed to go faster next time to show her what they meant. 

Work had been going normally since she had nearly crashed into Josh that night. Only a few average tickets and calls here and there, but nothing that required too much thought. 

What did require thought was the neighbor. Since he left that afternoon, Marissa hadn’t seen him since. She hadn’t even heard him moving around in the apartment when she left hers or walked by. She loathed to admit it, but it was worrisome. The poor man was just so lost. Getting involved with another person even by the smallest means stressed her out. People were unreliable, and even if they seemed like they were trustworthy, there was always that straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Ayana was her only friend, and with good reason. She was unapologetically herself. If something was funny, she laughed. If something bothered her, she addressed it. Marissa’s fellow cop refused to take things at face value, and find out the truth for herself. 

But Josh. Marissa knew nothing about him, and neither did he for that matter. She supposed the amnesia gifted him an honesty that lead her to give him her number. As much as the redhead didn’t want to admit it, she was kind of hoping he would text or call her to at least let her know he was OK. 

Packing up her things and locking her desk, she left to go home for the next few days. Time to be a civilian and stop worrying about the city for a little bit. 

\----- 

Stopping at her door, Marissa looked behind her at room 611, listening. Still no sound came from the door. Steeling her resolve, she turned around and marched over to his door, and knocked. Finally, there was a shuffling that signified someone was alive back there. The door opened, and a very tired man stood looking down at her. Clearly not taking care of himself, Josh was wearing the same clothes as four days ago, now very wrinkled. It looked like he had eaten if she could go by the frozen food wrappers scattered on the counter, but it didn’t look like he cared enough to clean up. 

“Uh, hey! Josh. How are you doing?” 

Josh blinked slowly at her. “Fine, I guess. Been here. Nothing’s changed.” 

“...I can see that. I know this is a stupid question, but are you OK?” 

Another pause. “Not really.” 

Marissa sighed. “I know we don’t really know each other, but I was worried about how you were taking this. You seemed so defeated when I last saw you.” 

Josh backed up into the room, gesturing her in. She hesitated for a second, but decided that she would be able to take care of anything that this tired, depressed man might do. They sat down on the small couch in the center of the living room and sat in silence for a minute or two before he exhaled and spoke up. 

“I’m not sure where to go from here. I’ve walked around, talked to a few people, but no one knows me. Not even the apartment knows anything about me besides my name. I just feel like I’m supposed to be doing something, have some purpose, but nothing is coming up. I feel totally useless. Like I’m not actually here.” Josh ran his hand down his face and sighed again. 

Marissa was not the comforting type. Seeing a man have an existential crisis brought on by memory loss was not something she signed up for. Well, she supposed she had by walking into the apartment. It was still not something she was prepared for. 

“I really want there to be something I can do about that. If I found something out, I would tell you as soon as possible.” She looked over to him, his hand still over his face. Marissa gently took his hand and peeled it off his face. “Just... I’m not good with people, and I like being by myself. But I don’t want to see the world burn.” 

He looked to her and then to her hands holding his own. He gave a slight grin. “Well, good thing I’m not the world. I’m burning up pretty badly.” 

She cocked her brow, “Well, I know that one way we can keep the world from burning is cleaning it. Have you even showered?” 

“No.” 

“Great. Step one, then."

After setting him on his way to getting cleaned up, she went back to her room to change her clothes as well. It had taken some convincing to agree to leave his abode, but nothing good was going to come of isolation. He ate all the frozen food in his fridge (he had commented he didn’t even know how it got there), so he needed groceries. It was a simple reason, but at least he was doing something else besides mope. 

A knock at her door announced his arrival. She grabbed her wallet and jacket and met him in the hallway. Josh looked refreshed and a little better. Marissa knew he was probably just entertaining her by going along with this plan, but she would at least try. 

\----- 

He may not know much, but Josh knew that it wasn’t healthy to just sleep, eat, and sit silently in the dark wracking his brains. It came as a great surprise (but not an unwelcome one) when Marissa knocked on his door, he was happy to see her, but didn’t have the energy to show it at first. The short chat they had left him with a sliver of hope. It didn’t bring any new memories to mind, but at least someone was willing to distract him from self-destruction. 

Buying groceries didn’t sound hard at all. The food in the fridge had been fine, so getting more of that would be good. Whenever Josh had pulled out the first package and microwaved it, it tasted like nothing he could have imagined. All the tastes and smells were new, like he had never had food before in his life. A tiny thought in the back of his mind was that he could get used to relearning a few things. At her door, he held his head up, squared his shoulders, and knocked. 

There were so many different types of food at the store! He needed to try everything! Marissa almost stopped him from getting just the frozen foods and insisted he try something else and whip something up himself. They stared at each other for a second, both realizing at the same time that he didn’t know how to cook. Frozen food it was then. 

“Can you cook?” 

Marissa looked at Josh and shrugged. “Maybe, but not for you. Google some videos or something and learn.” 

“Google?” 

“Yeah, on the internet.” 

“Internet?” 

“Oh boy.” 

When they got back to the apartment and put away the groceries, she sat him down in front of her computer and introduced him to the wonders of the internet. After showing him several examples of cooking, he got distracted by the video suggestions on the side about chickens. Then about farms. Then about the structural integrity of a certain type of shed. And on and on. Finally, Marissa had to cut him off. 

“Alright, I need to go to bed. Don’t you have your own computer stashed somewhere?” 

“Not that I’ve found. Where can I get one?” 

“Several places. Do you know if you have enough money on hand to get it? A good one can cost a good bit.” 

“Well, I followed the instructions in the debit card mail, and I think I’ve got enough.” 

He turned his phone around and showed her the bank account. She felt fidgeted a little before looking, and her eyes almost bugged out at the number displayed on the screen. The man was loaded. How was there no information on this person? 

“Yeah,” she croaked, “you can get a really nice one. I’ll help you later with that if you want.” 

“Please? You know a lot more than me.” He mumbled. “And it was nice having you over too.” 

It was nice. Meeting people was hard, and it seemed like he had shakey people skills. Maybe there were some videos that would make him less awkward. 

\----- 

Some time and a computer later, Josh was overwhelmed with information. Everything was at his fingertips, and kept him busy from thinking about himself too much. Of course, he did try to search himself on the internet, but only same weird social profile of a man who looked nothing like him popped up. He would try again later to see if something else came up. 

It was a cold evening when Marissa knocked on his door next. She was taken aback when he opened the door with tears in his eyes. 

“Are you OK? What’s wrong? Did you remember something?” 

“No, no. I’m sorry.” He wiped his eyes. “They’re just so cute.” 

“Oh, the dogs.” 

One of his favorite subjects to look up was dogs. They came in all shapes and sizes, and they all looked so cute. The puppies were the best. Tiny, fat, and only able to make adorable squeaks. He could watch them for hours. Cats were cool too, but not as much as dogs. Whenever he began to feel stressed about his situation, he directed himself to any and every dog video to distract him. 

Marissa had gotten many texts and pictures about dogs. She supposed that it could have been worse. He could have taken an extreme liking to grass fertilization. 

“Come on, we’re going out. You need to meet more people.” 

“We’re going out? But you hate going out.” 

“I go out once in a while!” 

He held his hands up defensively, “Only about as much as me.” 

She let out a huff. “We’re going out with Ayana tonight. She wants to meet you. Grab your coat and let’s go.” 

At the bar, Ayana waved them over excitedly. Staring at the tall man following her friend the whole time. Marissa wasn’t kidding when she said he was afraid he was going to hit his head on the door frame. He didn’t have to duck down, but it was pretty close. 

“Wow, hey! I’m Ayana Jones. Glad I finally get to see the mysterious neighbor.” She held out her hand to him. 

He looked a little surprised before he took it. “Josh. Boyd! Josh Boyd. Yeah.” 

Marissa had asked Ayana out for a drink just to hang out and catch up outside of work, gotten the idea to bring Josh along, and Ayana was excited at the prospect of meeting the man who remembered nothing. 

The group was having a good time. They discussed their jobs, movies, the sport that was currently displayed on the TV, and so on. None of them cared where the conversation went, and just settled into enjoying the night. 

Ayana left first because she had to work the next day, leaving Marissa and Josh behind to nurse their last drinks of the night. 

“It’s been great, guys.” She yawned as she pushed her chair out. “I’d love to do this again sometime. Also,” she tapped Josh on the shoulder. “I think you should have my number. If you need any help or Marissa isn’t available, I’ll see what I can do.” 

“Uh, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” 

With that, Ayana was out the door. 

Josh glanced at Marissa from over his drink, “Thank you for inviting me. You didn’t have to.” 

“I wanted to. It was about time you met more people than just me.” 

“I don’t have a problem just hanging out with just you.” 

She looked away, “I know.” 

After paying their tabs, they headed towards her car around the back of the building. Out of habit, she began to sweep the area with her eyes while walking, listening for any extra footsteps. Marissa looked over her shoulder to Josh suddenly when she heard someone join them to verify that it wasn’t him. Two men were close behind them, too close to just be there for their car. The policewoman grabbed Josh wrist and began walking faster. 

“Don’t look behind, just keep walking.” 

He looked startled but complied. “What’s wrong?” His low voice sounded in her ear. 

“We're almost to the car, hold on.” 

It was then that the men advanced faster, too fast for her to react. They grabbed her companion by the arm and twisted him to the ground. He gave a gasp of pain as he fell to his knees. Marissa turned towards their attackers and began to charge, but halted when one of them pulled a gun. 

The mystery man chuckled. “I think you may want to stop. We don’t want to hurt either of you, but we will if we have to.” 

Marissa lifted her hands in front of her. Josh looked to her, then back at the man with the weapon trained on her. He snarled and rose to action, elbowing his captor in the groin with his free arm and literally seizing and throwing him to the ground when he doubled over. His friend jerked his head to them when he heard the commotion, giving Marissa a window of opportunity to disarm him. She wrenched the enemy’s wrist and took the gun, turning on its previous owner. 

“I think you need to leave, now. I won’t ask again.” 

The mugger backed up slowly. “My friend goes too.” 

“Fine, just leave.” 

She finally noticed what Josh had been doing for the past minute. Whatever had happened after the initial retaliation, the other man clearly had a broken arm now, and Josh was putting pressure on the joint in a way that the man couldn’t move without causing even more pain. 

“Let him go, Josh.” 

He stood up silently and gave them some room, shaking with anger. He looked positively feral. 

Marissa motioned with the gun again. “Go.” She repeated. 

The men ran off into the night without looking back. 

\----- 

The car ride back was grim and silent. Josh broke the silence, “What was that?” 

“Just muggers. I have their weapon though, so I’m going into the station tomorrow to report what happened. You should come too.” 

“Right. Sure.” 

Silence again. She looked over to him. “I didn’t see everything you did because I had my own guy to deal with, but it looked like you have fought before with the condition you left your guy in. Do you remember anything about that?” 

“Not really, I just acted on what felt right.” 

“Muscle memory, maybe. You just get more and more interesting.” 

A confused look came over his face. “Thanks?” 

\----- 

The sound of bones cracking rang throughout the room as the man fell to the ground. “Please, sir! Stop!” 

The dark figure threw aside the blunt weapon he had. “Who told you to confront him? Did I send that order?” 

“No, sir! But he hasn’t been doing anything! He’s just been staying in the apartment for the past few weeks! We thought that bringing him in might give us more answers.” 

“You thought wrong. The informant wants us to keep observing the subject. See what he’s up to.” He leaned closer to the injured man. “What the informant wants, he gets. This won’t happen again, am I clear?” 

“Y-yes sir.” 

He stood up. “You would do well to remember you are not as irreplaceable as you think.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying so hard to get to my favorite part. Being patient with myself is actually harder than I thought.


	6. We Can't Have Nice Things

Ayana’s surprise when Marissa told her that they had been mugged at gunpoint after she had left for the night was palpable. 

“What did they want from you?” 

Marissa gave an exaggerated shrug, “I don’t know, money is usually what people get held up over. I didn’t really think to ask when we were there.” 

Josh sat there, looking between the two women while they talked. Mulling over the events of the night before. Whenever he replayed the events in his mind, the men came around from Marissa's direction. So why...? 

Marissa knew from the look on his face that Josh was thinking. Even just being acquainted with him for a short amount of time, she figured out quickly that he wore his heart on his sleeve. His expressions were bright and easy to read. Whatever emotion he was feeling was contagious. Right now, the inquisitiveness rolling off him was making her itch. 

“You need to ask a question, Josh?” 

He blinked and shook himself out of his thoughts. “Why would they come after me first? They were more on your side when they approached us.” 

“That’s true.” She looked up at the ceiling to think about it. “They dodged me at first. How odd. We will get to that later then. Right now, let’s focus on identifying them.” 

“Aye aye.” He gave her a quick, goofy salute. 

The redhead fondly chuckled while shaking her head slightly. She turned back to Ayana, pulling the gun out from her purse she was carrying today. “I put it in a plastic bag to try and retain any finger prints on it. I did hold it, so it’s going to have mine as well.” 

Ayana picked up and hummed. “You know what kind of pistol it is?” 

“No. Looks like a .44 browning, but it’s slightly off. The magazine in it carries some weird bullets I haven’t seen before.” 

“Well, I’ll get it sent over so our buddies over in forensics can check it out. I’ll let you know what they find. I’m glad you guys took care of each other.” 

The lights from the street hadn’t illuminated the faces enough for Josh and Marissa to give a good description last night, so they left it at that. They trusted Ayana to tell them anything important. 

It was a few days later when Paul from forensics came over to her desk with some papers and the pistol. “Hey, Jones told me these were yours. You had someone try to rob you?” 

“Yeah, had a friend there with me that helped me out though. We’re both fine. What’s come up on the pistol?” 

“Surprisingly, nothing. There are no records of it even being made. It’s not a standard build of anything. No sale, no ownership.” 

Marissa slumped in her seat. 

“We did notice one thing though.” Paul continued. 

He pulled out the gun’s magazine and pointed at a small word in the upper corner. “We don’t know if this is a brand or something else, MECH doesn’t mean anything to me.” 

Interesting, but it meant nothing to her too. MECH wasn’t any company she was familiar with. These men were just part of a larger organization. Great, she thought. Another mystery with a dead end. Did she just attract unsolvable cases? She’d just have to start looking harder. 

A cold thought crept into her mind, what if Josh was connected to this? They had gone after him first. He had no background to defend himself with. Conveniently had amnesia. She didn’t want to think about it, but the idea began eating away at her for the rest of the day. 

\----- 

Josh was deep into a horror book and startled so hard he dropped the book when he heard a knock at his door. “Frag.” He muttered to himself. “Lost my place.” 

The knock sounded again, more frantic. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” He called out, getting annoyed. He opened the door to find his neighbor looking frazzled. That worried him, she always was so calm and cool about anything that came her way. “What’s wrong?” He started, reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder. 

She moved into the apartment before he could, and when in the kitchen, threw a picture on the counter and pointed at it. “Does this mean anything to you?” 

He peered over, genuinely nervous about what put her in this mood. It was of what looked to be a piece of a gun, the magazine. Circled in red was the word “MECH” on the item. He squinted at it, thinking hard, if he had seen it before. 

“Nothing comes to mind. It doesn’t even give me a feeling of familiarity that my picture gave me when I first saw it.” 

“Are you sure?” She asked with such intensity it honestly scared him a little. 

“I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you. Why would you think I would?” 

She glared at him. “It’s all a little well timed, isn’t it?” 

“What?” 

“No really, it almost makes sense. A man who doesn’t know anything suddenly gets attacked by other guys with no background and an untraceable weapon. What’s going on? Are you trying to make the police look bad? Are you trying to plant some incriminating evidence on me?” 

Ah. This was about the gun on the muggers. So it was an enigma too. He held his hands in front of him, palms up in a pleading manner. “Marissa, you’re scaring me. I really don’t know what this is. It does sound really weird, but I promise you I have no connections to it. The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt you. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, I have no reason to do anything you’re accusing.” 

The fiery woman faltered at his honest face. She let out a sigh, and put her hands in his outstretched hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put my paranoia and mistrust on you. It just seemed like it matched too well to be a coincidence. I almost forgot they fought you as well as me.” 

Josh lead her over to the couch and sat down with her. “Do you need to talk?” 

After a little pause, she relented. “Yeah. I don’t have an excuse, but...” 

“My father died right after I was born, leaving me with my mother, Claire. She remarried when I was young to some idiot. Growing up, I blamed him for Claire turning to alcohol. She was always drunk, always unhappy, chasing a dream in the bottom of a bottle. He wasn't much better, punishing me very harshly for little things and ignoring me any other time. I thought things were going to get better when they divorced, but it didn’t. Saving ourselves was my priority, so I began to horde any and all money I could get my hands on. I was going to get us into a better situation, I told her. I got a job as soon as I could. 

“So you can imagine I was angry and hurt when I found that all my money was gone. She found my savings and took it all. Her and her new boyfriend used it on God knows what and booze. When I demanded she pay me back, she slapped me across the face, told me that while I was under her roof, my money was hers. I was floored. Reevaluating everything, I realized that while she had kept me in her life, she didn’t really care about me. She had chosen alcohol and strangers over me.” 

The bitterness in her voice made it sound like this had happened only the day before. “I left the day after I turned 18, joined the army, and cut her off from my life. After I completed my tours and was discharged due to my injury, I made the mistake of trying to reconnect with her. I foolishly lent her some money after listening to her sob story. 

“She still calls me sometimes, trying to swindle me out of some more cash. I always turn her down and block the number. I think she calls me from her new boyfriends’ phones.” 

Marissa looked up at Josh. “I’ll be the first to admit I have trust issues, but you don’t deserve to be on the receiving end of them. I’ve only known you for a month and half, and while you don’t remember anything, you haven’t given me a reason not to trust you. You’re not my mother or her boyfriends. This... gun thing and you, probably a coincidence after all. My imagination just ran wild with me.” 

He hugged her. She stiffened for a bit, and then hugged back, letting out breath. “I’m sorry.” 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, but you’re forgiven anyway.” 

Letting a laugh out through her nose, she pulled back. Josh noticed she was staring at something on the floor and turned around. “What are you looking at?” So that’s where his book landed. 

“Steven King? Really? Why would you start with that?” 

“Hey! He might have weird ideas, but his stories are intriguing. I’ll bet I could be a writer.” 

“Ha! In your dreams.” 

\----- 

The next few months passed without incident. Marissa kept digging for information on MECH without anything turning up. Josh kept to himself, mostly, only ever leaving his apartment to hang out with Marissa and on occasion, Ayana and Marissa. No memories returned, and while he was still actively trying to find something to trigger his mind, he was making peace with the idea he might just have to live this life now. 

They often found themselves hanging out with each other on any spare time they had, watching movies, talking, and even attempting to cook. They quickly came to the conclusion that Josh could burn salad. 

It was comforting having one another, having a friend that lived so close and so willing to be there. Ayana had elbowed her saying, “Remember when you were terrified of having a new neighbor? That you wouldn’t ever want to have to ‘commit’ to it? Look at you now! Getting a new best friend.” 

Josh was over at her place one night with a movie. She looked over it with a scrupulous eye. “The Notebook? Really, Josh? There’s so much better chick flicks out there.” 

“Well, I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.” 

“From who? Some romantic blogger you follow?” 

He waved his hand vaguely, “Doesn’t matter. Come on. Let’s just get it started.” 

They sat down with popcorn, insisted upon by Josh to make it feel “authentic.” 

“This is so dumb.” Marissa insisted. 

“Shh!” 

When the boat scene came on the screen, she rolled her eyes, “You’re such a sap.” 

“She missed him so much! He still loves her!” 

“Jesus, calm down. They’re not making a rational decision. She still needs to take care of the other dude.” 

The next scene... oh yeah. She had forgotten about this scene. It was a bit weird watching it with Josh beside her. He was so focused, he didn’t realize she was looking at him. “Are you seriously watching this?” She interrupted. 

He let out an agitated breath. “I just want to watch a movie. Are you jealous that they’re kissing and you’re not?” 

A dramatic arm thrown around his shoulders squeezed him, “You got me! I have been dying to be engaged to someone I don’t love and pine after another! How will I live with myself?” 

The exasperated man turned his face towards her and realized just how close she was. He let out a short breath on her ear, surprised at his own sudden stupor. Marissa turned to meet his gaze him, studying his expression. His eyes were darting over nose, eyes, cheek, and landing on her lips. She gave him a smirk, and put her forehead to his, closing her eyes. “You’re not watching the movie.” 

“Uh, yeah. I just,” he bumped her nose with his own, “just got distracted.” 

Neither of them had set out to kiss the other when the night began, but sometimes the best things just happen by accident. 

He had apologized after the kiss, drawing back. “Like you said, I’m just a sap.” Josh rubbed his face nervously. 

“Hey, I got caught up in the moment too. I wouldn’t have kissed you back if I didn’t want to.” 

Josh left after the movie was over, but kept thinking about her. He might have been a sap, but he did genuinely like her. It had been half a year since she had found him. The amnesiac knew he didn’t have much to offer, but he still found himself drawn to her. He liked her. Marissa’s pragmatism and experiences had kept him grounded when he thought he would lose himself sometimes. Maybe eventually he would talk to her about it, when he felt more confident in himself. 

Alone her own apartment, Marissa slapped herself on the cheeks, groaning. What was she doing? She couldn’t take advantage of the man like that. He barely knew himself; she couldn’t just sweep him off his feet because he didn’t know any different. Josh was too sweet for that. If she was being truthful though, she enjoyed kissing him even if that was the case. Maybe she would talk to him about it in the future. 

\----- 

Marissa was just leaving the courthouse after taking care of some filing business. She waved goodbye to the clerk right before she put her hand on the front door. It stopped with a bump, and the cop realized she had opened onto somebody coming inside. “I’m so sorry sir! I didn’t see you there.” 

The man said nothing, just scowled at her as he walked by and headed to the clerk at the front desk. She frowned to herself, and turned to leave when her foot kicked an object on the ground. It was a wallet. “Who’s is this?” She murmured as she bent to pick it up. Opening the wallet to search for the name of the owner, she was greeted with the logo she was least expecting to see. MECH. On a business card. A chill ran down her spine.

She wildly looked around to see if anyone was looking, and saw the man she had bumped into stomping back to her. “Hey! That’s my wallet!” 

Playing it cool, she handed it back. “I’m sorry sir. I was just looking inside so I could find its owner. I’m glad I could return it to you.” 

He snatched it from her hand and walked back to the front desk, showed his ID, and went to the elevator after signing in. 

Marissa sauntered back over to the clerk. “Who was that? He was so rude.” 

The clerk looked up, interest piqued. “Oh! He’s always this way. He comes here all the time in a bad mood, trying to ruin everyone’s day.” 

“What’s he here for?” 

“Oh, he likes to talk to the mayor about funding for something. I’m not sure what.” 

The mayor and MECH? How had they been able to keep this quiet for so long? “What’s his name?” 

“Mr. Adrian Ross.” 

Perfect. A lead. After so long she was getting somewhere. 

\----- 

“Josh! Open up!” 

The door opened a crack and a single eye peeked from inside, “Do I know you?” 

“Let me in, you weirdo. I have something important to tell you.” 

“What’s the password?” 

“Let me in!” 

He laughed and opened the door all the way. “Fine, fine. I guess you can come over. I was _so_ busy though.” 

She barged in and sat on the couch. “I think we’ve figured something out!” She told him about the man with the MECH card. “And tomorrow I’m going to ask Chief Burns about looking him up. He wasn’t in the station today, so I had to wait.” 

“That’s great! I’m happy for you!” 

“What do you mean for me, for us! These MECH people are bad news, and we need to find out more about them in case they are attacking more people than just us.” 

“I agree. I know you’ll figure it out though.” 

It was getting late, so they decided to go out to the bar and have a drink and a bite to eat before turning in for the night. They walked in and got a seat at the front. Neither of them noticed the eyes watching them while they chatted. 

A drink or two later, (but who was counting?) Josh had an idea, “Maybe this organization knows who I am after all.” He rambled, a little buzzed from the drinks. 

“We’ve already been over this. Why are you bringing this up suddenly?” 

“It’s just been on my mind. What if you were right? I don’t want to be connected, but...” 

“No, stop it.” She said firmly. “They attacked you too. If anything, you’re the opposite of a friend to them.” 

“...Thank you.” 

Both feeling like they had just a bit too much to drink, Marissa called a cab for them. As they waited on the sidewalk, nausea and weariness washed over them more powerfully than either of them were prepared for. 

“What’s... what’s going on?” Marissa slurred, looking up at Josh. 

“I’m n-not sure.” He stumbled over the words clumsily. It was getting harder to stand. 

They leaned heavily on each other, watching for the car she ordered. They didn’t think twice when one pulled up and opened its door to them, urging them to get inside. Once we get home, Marissa thought, we will fine. 

But they didn’t make it home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wish this chapter ran a little smoother. I was having a hard time mapping this part out.  
> I might someday write about daily life from the 5 month time skip. I didn't want to add it in because it would slow the story down too much. It's about time to get back to what we came for: Giant Robots.


	7. Seeing Double

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go.

Everything hurt. 

Marissa was sore everywhere. It didn’t help that she appeared to be laying on the floor. Her lungs ached as she tried to take a deep breath to steady herself. It was dark, but there was a dim light above that lit the room just enough to see outlines of objects around her. There seemed to be another body next to her. Josh! She crawled over and shook him. A hand came out and swatted at her. “Stop it, I’m not ready to wake up yet.” 

“No, you need to get up now.” 

The urgency in her voice was enough to rouse him, he propped himself up on his elbows and looked around for himself. “Where are we?” He asked haltingly. 

“I’m not sure. I just woke up too.” 

The room they were in looked like it was painted grey, but that could have been the lack of light. It was very simple, no furniture, concrete floors, and one door with a small window in it. "We are locked in a jail of some sorts.” Marissa concluded out loud. 

“Jail?! But why? We didn’t drive home!” 

“I don’t think that’s why we’re here. I know what the city jail looks like, and this isn’t it.” 

Josh got up and walked over to the door and tried to open it. “Well, you’re right about us being locked in.” 

She rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the dumb comment. 

They both seized up and backed away when they heard the door opening. Three dark figures walked in and stood in front of the opening. A low hum came from the one in front. “I was expecting more from the man that we’ve had our eye on.” The man speaking let his eye wander clinically over Josh, like a doctor about to dissect a sample. It made both captives uneasy. 

Josh’s eye’s widened. “Who are you? Do you know me?” 

The man thought over the question, smiling like it was humorous. “Do I know you?” He mused. “Interesting. But no, I don’t. I’ve just been watching for a while now.” 

“But why?” 

“You really don’t know? What a turn of events. We will have to follow up on that when I get the briefing done.” Seemly satisfied with the meet and greet, he motioned for the men to leave, then turned to leave himself. 

Refusing to believe that was all they came in here for, Marissa stepped forward again, “Hey!” she spat. “What do you want with me then?” 

He glanced over his shoulder. “You just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stuck your nose into something you shouldn’t have.” 

The door closed behind him. Through the door, he said, “My name is Silas, and I am the director of this institution. Welcome.” His footsteps faded down the hallway outside. 

That sounded anything but welcoming. The two stood in silence where he left them, pondering the meaning behind the visit. In a strange turn of events, it was Josh’s face that was carefully blank while Marissa’s expression betrayed her fear. 

Marissa whirled to face Josh. “We have to get out of here, now.” Kneeling down in front of the door, she squinted at the lock. Maybe they could get out after all. “This is a surprisingly simple lock. From the build of this room, I would have expected something more... industrial. But I can work with this.” 

Josh snapped out of the trance the strange visit put him in. “You mean get us out?” 

“I can at least try.” She shrugged. Their captors obviously were sloppy if they searched them, because she still had her Swiss Amy Knife in her pocket. Pulling a few of the parts out, she began messing with the door. 

Her cellmate was beginning to panic. “What do they want with us? With me? How did we get here?” 

“I think we were drugged” 

“Drugged? But why?” 

“A good question,” the sarcastic remark was thrown at him, “we’ll ask them in a minute. Let me focus!” 

After a few minutes tinkering with the lock for a while, they heard a tell-tale click of the lock retreating into the door. “That was easy... too easy. I don’t think they meant to keep us here for long. Let’s get going before they come back.” Marissa turned and grabbed Josh by the wrist. 

“But how will we know where to go? We don’t even know where we are.” He whispered frantically. 

“I’m making this up as I go! Just... look for anything helpful.” 

The hallway was wide and empty, with several doors lining the walls. None had windows, but it did nothing to ease their fears. One direction was as good as the next, so they picked a side and went down that way. They went through the door at the end, and were met with yet another hallway. “Good, no one is here either. Make sure you tell me if you hear anything.” 

It appeared to be a maze with no end, and the escapees felt like they weren’t getting anywhere when finally, a ray of hope came through in the form of directional signs. The labels on them read “Deliveries,” “Hangers,” and “Security.” The duo stared at the signs, wondering which way to investigate first. 

Josh nervously spoke up, “I think we should go for deliveries. Stuff has to come in somewhere, so maybe an exit is right around there.” 

“Worth a try.” 

The delivery room proved to be close. It turned out to be little more than a mail room, but it led to an interesting discovery. While they were looking around to see if there was a map or maybe a “You Are Here” sign, Marissa picked up a piece of paper with an all too familiar letterhead. “Josh, this is worse than I thought.” 

“How can it be worse than being drugged and jailed?” 

“You can be drugged and jailed by an organization that has it out for you.” She turned the paper towards him, highlighting the top. 

“We... we’re at MECH.” 

“Yeah.” Was all she could manage. 

The urgency they had before was nothing compared to what they were fueled with now. Deciding they had enough of the Deliveries room, they ran back the way they came and settled on Security as their next destination. As they drew closer, however, they could hear voices from inside. “Shit!” Marissa whispered under her breath. She had momentarily forgotten in her concentration that there had to be guards somewhere. 

“Back up! Back up!” A well-placed shove on Josh’s chest almost caused him to fall as she hurriedly retreated from the security room. They scrambled back to square one, the directional signs. 

Touching the sign, Josh sighed. “I guess we’re out of options. Let’s check out the hangers.” 

The hallways widened considerably the farther down they walked towards the hangers. Whatever was in them was very large. Their footsteps echo eerily as they opened the door marked 1. This room was filled with military grade transport vehicles, designed to carry several people each. “None of this make sense. Where are we? Do these guys have their own military?” Marissa murmured to herself out loud. A loud sound made her snap her eyes over to the opposite side of the room, someone was shouting. 

“What do you mean, you can’t find them? Go check the security station! We have cameras for a reason!” 

“Yes sir!” 

They heard whoever was carrying out the order made a mad dash towards them. Thinking fast, Josh crouched and headed over to the cars, when Marissa realized what he was doing, she followed. They climbed into the back and laid low and waited for the footsteps to fade. 

“They’re going to find us soon.” Josh choked out. 

“I know!” Marissa whispered back furiously. “Give me a minute to think.” 

She crawled to the front of the car and tried to plan another escape. From what she could see through the cars, there were two more doors. One of the doors was where the voices originated from, so door number two it was. “Come on, we’re heading out.” 

Staying hunched over so the trucks around them would provide a little cover, they made their way over to the door. Right before they opened it, a noise from inside caused them to freeze. It sounded like a broken car trying to start. 

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Josh held his head. 

“I do too.” 

“No, I mean, I have a splitting headache. I feel like there’s a ringing in my ears from something here.” 

“It’s probably the drugs wearing off. Come on, whatever’s in there can’t be as bad as the guy behind us.” 

“I hope so.” 

The room was almost completely dark. There were only a few lights on the floor the lit a pathway to the other side of the room where a dark figure slowly appeared as their eyes got used to the darkness. A very large figure. 

“Josh, find a light.” When he didn’t answer, she turned around, “Josh!” 

“I’m sorry, but my headache is killing me now. It feels like the deeper into the rooms we get the worse it gets.” 

“This is not the time for this! Snap out of it!” 

He just groaned and held his head tighter. Marissa gave us and started scanning the walls for some form of a light switch. There was a screen near the door that displayed a word. “Activate? Activate what?” She asked herself. Taking a run for her money, she went ahead and pressed the command, whatever it was. A few lights popped on near her, and the dying car sound came again from the figure in the back of the room. Both of them turned towards it, thinking someone was about to run them over. Instead, they stood staring at the now lit... thing. It looked like a giant person, sitting with it’s arms in slings hanging from the ceiling and its legs laid out in front of it. It appeared to have weird splotches on all over it. Curious, Marissa started to walk towards it to inspect. Josh grabbed her arm, “What are you doing? We don’t know what that is!” 

“Then come with me! What if it’s something that can get us out?” 

“What, a giant that smashes through walls or something? That thing can’t offer us anything!” 

“How do you know? You haven’t even had a good look at it?” 

“I don’t need to! We just need to get out!” 

“I need you to calm down so I can figure something out!” 

She spun on her heel and began approaching the giant again. Josh stumbled along behind her, refusing to let her go alone. 

There seemed to be a control panel near the right foot. Marissa saw the same “activate” command on the display. “If anything, this will create a distraction so we can look around more.” 

She took the plunge, and pressed the button. Flood lights around the body turned on, illuminating everything. As they blinked to regain their vision, the foot nearest to them jerked a bit, scaring both of them. “Why is it covered in dirt?” Josh asked when he could focus again. 

“I don’t know. I don’t think they know either” She said reading the report that had popped up on the screen. Whoever was studying this thing left the notes half finished, they would probably be back sooner than later. This was a... Cybertronian? Whatever that was. Looked like some giant robot. 

Wait. 

Wait wait wait. 

Like the ones on the news. Like the ones people kept telling her they saw. 

This wasn’t something she was expecting to ever been proven real, especially not in the middle of her and Josh’s abduction. It had so many terrifying implications. The government was covering their tracks, this place studied them, and there was more of them. This was just one, and it was huge. Dangerous if it woke up. 

“I agree with you now.” She repeated herself from earlier, “We need to get out of here.” Marissa reached out and grabbed Josh by the elbow and tried to lead him back the way they came. Tried, being the keyword. He stood stock still, staring up at the creature before them. He was sweating, breathing heavily like he was having an anxiety attack. 

“Josh?” 

He didn’t acknowledge her. 

“Josh, snap out of it! We don’t have time to have a breakdown!” 

He turned towards her, shivering like he was cold. Tears formed at the corner of his eyes and he finally spoke. 

“I’m sorry.” 

How did this man have the ability to make her speechless at the worst times? “What?” 

“I’m so sorry.” 

Josh collapsed as though hit on the head with a bag of bricks. Marissa tried to catch him as he fell, but ended going down with him. “No! Get up! You can’t do this now!” 

The cop smacked him on the cheek, trying to wake him up. Now _she_ was beginning to panic. She wasn’t going to leave him here, but he was so heavy it was going to be nearly impossible. As she was propping him up to sitting position, she noticed a chilling fact. He was not warm. In fact, he already felt cold like a man dead for hours. Twisting Josh’s body towards her, she placed her ear to his chest and listened. 

No heartbeat. 

“NO!” 

Marissa was really panicking now. How could he be dead? Was the shock of the abduction so great he just gave out at the next big thing? She swung her legs over him and began to hum “Staying Alive” to keep herself focused as she beat upon his chest in an attempt to get his heart going again. There was no response. 

She weakly slumped forwards, willing herself not to cry. She was strong, but this day was heavy. Letting out a shaky breath, she moved to the side and just sat for a moment beside her friend. 

The redhead was going to have to leave without him, and that fact made her want to throw up. 

_CHK CHK BRRRMMMM_

Something that sounded like an engine turning over caused her to jump to her feet. Another noise seemed to sing from the center of the Cybertronian before her. It was waking up! 

Marissa stared with dread and awe as glowing light streams traveled up its waist and up towards its face. That was something she was more than a little surprised at, the fact that it had a very human like face. When the sound of machinery reached its crescendo, ruby eyes powered on as the body jerked upward, moving itself to a more situated position. 

It made a gasping motion and swiveled its head wildly around, trying to focus on anything. When it finally stopped moving, it turned its head slowly and seemed to squint at her. A look of recognition came over the alien, and it leaned forward slightly as though attempting to reach for her, but its arms still were wired to the computers and walls. It opened its mouth and spoke. 

“Marissa?” 

\----- 

_WARNING: FOREIGN PROGRAMS FOUND_

_ATTEMPTING TO BLOCK FOREIGN ENTRY_

_SUCCESS_

_ERROR: OPTICAL SENSORS OFFLINE. RECALIBRATING._

_ERROR: LEFT SERVO SENSORS INTERRUPTED. RECALIBRATING._

_ERROR: RIGHT SERVO SENSORS INTERRUPTED. RECALIBRATING._

And on and on. Thundercracker’s HUD was covered in errors and mobility issues. He was confused to say the least, but his systems were attempting to correct itself. His optics were going to take a while to recalibrate, but he was already starting to regain feeling in his pedes and servos. The next thing he noticed right as he regained access to his audial receptors was a song. He had heard it before, and recently. What was it? It was hard to focus when all of your processor is tasked with making everything in your body work. 

That’s right! The song was “Staying Alive.” 

Why did he know that? It was obviously a human song. 

Wait. 

He was Thundercracker. 

And Josh. 

Marissa! 

The seeker refocused his processor on bringing himself fully online. He had to get them out of there, and fast. Being in a stasis lock for so long was straining on everything. 

When his optics finally turned on, his surroundings were blurry. He looked around the room to try and get them to focus faster. After a second, the worried mech could see. He leaned forward as he caught sight of Marissa staring at him. His spark ached to see his friend look so distressed, so he reached out to reassure her that he was OK. Or tried to, he forgot he was tied to the testing equipment. 

Marissa stepped back, raising her arms defensively in front of herself. She had no idea who he was. The Decepticon stopped struggling said her name.


	8. Fighting Dirty, Coming Clean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited.

Woman and mech stared at each other, not saying anything. The silence was physically painful for both of them. 

“Marissa?” The metal giant repeated, as though thinking that maybe she didn’t hear it the first time. 

“...Yes?” She didn’t know how else to respond. 

“I... could you help me out here? I’m not up to full power yet, or else I would do it myself. We need to get moving.” 

Marissa gave a blank look. This robot that just woke up was asking for assistance? Why would it think she would be willing? “How do you know my name? What are you?” 

The wires and scaffolding rattled as the robot began struggling again. “Look, I want to explain all of this. I really do. But as you’ve said before, we need to get out of here. There’s no time. Now that I’m awake, it’s only going to get worse in here. It’s very clear from the malware they’re trying to get into my systems they’re trying to study something and keep me shut down. They weren’t expecting us.” 

“Us?!” This mech was talking like they were in this together. “There’s no us.” 

“There is!” It protested. Pointing, it turned its hand towards Josh. “That’s me.” 

Marissa blinked. “What?” 

“That’s me! Josh! But not me! We don’t have time! I’ll tell you everything when we leave this pit behind!” 

She looked towards her lifeless friend on the floor. “That’s... not possible. He’s just a normal guy.” 

“Then how did I know your names? That we were running?” He pushed her. Lowing his voice, he continued. “I promise, I will explain everything. You deserve an explanation. Please, trust me.” 

Another moment of silence stretched between them. Finally, “Alright, but we are taking him with us.” She motioned towards the body. 

“Sounds like a plan.” 

The skeptical woman walked back over to the console and stared at the commands; it looked like she could release the clasps on the arms to reach the wires plugged into him. Then she would be able halt whatever was keeping him from getting up on his own. 

His arms dropped to his sides with a crash. “Well,” he commented, “we can be sure someone heard that.” 

“No, really?” 

He flexed his fingers, furrowing his brow in concentration as she crawled over to the right arm and yanked on the wires. He snapped his head to the side. “Hey! Ow! I’m glad feeling hasn’t completely returned!” 

“You can feel that?” 

“Of course I can feel that. It’s plugged directly into my sensor net. Please be careful.” 

Upon closer inspection, there were smaller clasps that held onto the wires. She had to pinch them to get them loose enough to take them out. 

“I’m Thundercracker, by the way. That’s my real designation. Name. You know.” 

“I see. I -” 

Any reply she was about to give was cut off when a loud banging noise came from the door. They stood still for a moment when the noise subsided, but jumped with a louder and more powerful blast hit the door. 

“And there they are. Get off and stand back. I’m going to try to get up.” 

Marissa didn’t need to be told twice. Jerking out the last of the plugs in the arm, she jumped down and began trying to move Josh to a spot out of the way. The shriek of metal grinding against the floor rang out as Thundercracker tried to get a foot up underneath him. “Slag, I need both arms.” He grunted as he nearly fell over. He reached around to his still connected arm and grasped the wires. Steeling himself, he couldn’t help but let out a roar of pain as he ripped them out and freed himself completely. 

The redhead stared as he shook his arm as though trying to alleviate the pain. “Ahh... a gear must be stuck somewhere.” He commented on the rattle that came from within. She was having a hard time processing the humanlike movements with the clearly alien appearance. He grimaced at the first arm that was released seemed to just stop doing anything productive at all to stare at it. 

The door wouldn’t hold much longer. The assault the entrance was taking insured they would be greeted by the enemy very soon. 

“Hey! Thunder! Or whatever your name is! Get a move on!” Marissa tried to hurry him along. 

“Almost there... YES!” Incredibly, his hand and forearm seemed to fold in on itself and turn into something else. “I got it! Now they aren’t the only one with a gun!” 

It was one thing to see him sitting down, but when Thundercracker rose to his feet, it was a sight to behold. He seemed to just keep growing larger the more he stood up. The wings on his back cast an intimidating shadow across the room. He actually had to lean over because his head brushed the ceiling. Marissa hadn’t realized how large these creatures were when she saw them on the news. Not that she had thought about it; she didn’t think they were real in the first place. 

Stretching over her, he grabbed Josh unceremoniously. “Hey!” She nearly screeched. “Be careful with him!” 

The robot paused for a moment, and turned his attention back to the body. With a flick of his wrist, it suddenly disappeared. “What the hell did you just do?!” Marissa wasn’t sure how he just wasn’t there anymore. 

“It’s in my subspace, don’t worry. Now,” he swung towards the door, “let’s go.” The ground shook as he moved. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but as long as he said he had him, that was going to have to be enough. 

The men outside the door weren’t expecting it to suddenly open, nor were they expecting a large, glowing gun to be shoved towards them from the inside of the room. Most of the agent’s last thoughts were something along the line of “What’s that?” before the laser that was shot blew them to bits. 

Thundercracker transformed his hand back, pushed himself up from his crouching position, and turned towards his reluctant companion. The way she had been protective over Josh’s body made him feel terrible for being... him. After all this was over, he just hoped she didn’t completely reject him. War didn’t allow for many good relationships to form. The friendship Marissa and Josh made him jealous. Maybe, just maybe, they could figure something out. 

Deep down he knew he was only fooling himself. 

Marissa was ready to advance. “OK, so now what? You can’t fit through that door. Is there another entrance here?” 

He stood back a little and surveyed the obstruction. “I think this whole wall raises up. There’s no way they could have gotten me in here in the first place. So the structural integrity of this wall isn’t going to bring the whole room down if removed. Which means I can do this!” 

He reared back and shoved his pede though the wall, causing it to explode outwards into the vehicle room. Clawing the rest of the wall away, he shoved himself through the hole. Satisfied, the winged mech then turned back towards Marissa and reached out to her. “Do you mind if I carry you? We’ll probably go faster if you don’t have to try to run after me.” 

Squinting at him, an untrusting expression crossed her face. 

He withdrew a little, “You don’t have to...” 

She held a hand up, “No, you’re right. Only if you can do it without crushing me.” 

If he was a breathing organism, he would have snorted. “You think I can’t control the pressure sensors in my serv – hands?” Best to use terminology she would understand. 

“You were the one who just said you had a gear or something loose in your arm.” 

“Fair enough. But that won’t cause a problem with this.” He held his hand out again. 

Using his fingers to step up onto his palm, she sat tried to sit as near the center as she could. Thundercracker bent his fingers inwards to better keep her from slipping out. Before they took off, she asked that he grab one of the guns that had been dropped so she could help defend themselves. 

First order of business in escaping, blocking anyone else from chasing them. The jet grabbed one of the parked cars, he crushed it in his hand a little bit to make it more difficult to move, and jammed it in front of the door to the hangers. “That will keep some of them busy.” He grinned at the woman in his hand. 

Marissa’s gaze seemed to bore into him. While she had every right to study the alien that just woke up and claimed to know her, it made him feel very self-conscious. “Uh, let’s keep going.” 

The reason she kept staring was because his face, even while slightly obscured under the helm he wore, looked like someone she knew. Just now, when the mech looked at her and smiled, she was awash with a feeling of familiarity. Like she had received that smile before from him. 

It was impossible, of course. This robot may claim to be her neighbor, but there’s no way that could be true. Then again, she didn’t believe these metal titans were real until about twenty minutes ago. She would just have to trust that he would clarify everything he claimed when they got out. 

A few walls and rooms later, they both were getting suspicious at the lack of opposition they were encountering. There were a few turrets that Thundercracker took out, but nothing that required a lot of exertion. MECH was planning something, it was obvious they weren’t going to get much farther without bumping into somebody. Or a trap. 

As they were moving to the next area, Thundercracker stopped abruptly, looking around the area as if searching for someone. It was such a quick reaction, it gave Marissa whiplash and she bumped her head into one of his fingers. That was going to leave a mark. The mech carrying her didn’t seem to notice. 

“Ugh, ow. What’s wrong?” Marissa whispered. 

“I... thought I detected another one of my kind here. For a brief klik, I could have sworn I caught a signal that I recognized. My systems still are resetting, so I might have just imagined it. At least I hope so.” 

Hopefully no one else had fallen into MECH’s clutches. 

Their suspicions proved correct about a trap when they burst through another wall to find many turrets pointed at them while agents moved to surround them. Most of them were planting themselves in from of a large opening with a few doorways beyond it. 

“I’m willing to bet that has to be a way out. It’s too guarded for it to be anything else.” Marissa commented in a low voice to Thundercracker. He nodded, put her on his shoulder, and told her to hold onto something. “I’m going to try to make a run for it.” 

One face they recognized walked through the crowd and addressed them. “So. You’re awake.” Silas looked annoyed. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble for me today.” 

“Yeah, I’m sure being back in my real body has caused you real grief.” Thundercracker sneered. “I’m a bit tired, to be honest, but I can still crush you if you don’t get out of our way.” He took an aggressive stance and flared his wings out completely in an act of intimidation. From the looks on the agent’s faces, it was working. 

“Your real body?” Silas completely ignored the threat issued at them. “That explains a lot. I knew you and the strange signal the man was giving off were connected, but I wasn’t sure how. Our informant was vague when he led us to you.” 

“Informant?” 

Once again, he was brushed off. “Now, I would like you alive. I was promised something to study when I picked you up.” 

“You’re welcome to try to take me down.” 

“I guarantee you I can and I will.” 

Marissa had enough at this point, and smacked her ride’s cheek and furiously exclaimed, “Stop this dick measuring contest!” She pulled out her gun and shot at Silas. “NOW MOVE!” 

Silas jumped to the side as everyone began shooting. Thundercracker swept his leg out and caused the turrets to go flying towards the agents on the other side of the room. Using the distraction, he jumped towards the opening on the opposite side. The blast door began to shut right as they reached it, but the blue jet thought fast. He wedged his hands between the doors and held it open. His systems whined as he struggled to open it wider to allow his wings to fit through. 

“You! Faireborn!” 

Marissa peeked over the shoulder she was perched on carefully, trying to listen to what Silas could possibly have to say. 

“Why are you with this creature? Why not stay with us? Surely you are not curious about their origin and the power they could provide to Earth?” 

“You have got to be kidding me.” Was he really trying to pitch his organization to her now? 

“Everyone has a responsibility to further the human race! You could be part of so much more! This is our world, and humanity have been given this opportunity to advance. We are MECH, Mankind Ever Continuing Heavenward! These aliens are just one more step in our evolution to -” 

_“For the love of god (primus), will you shut the fuck (frag) up!”_ The Cybertronian and human both were sick and tired of the grandstanding. Marissa was not going to be joining an organization that kidnaps people and tries to justify it with weak shit like this. 

“I’ll take my chances with the giant robot, thank you!” She shouted over his shoulder. 

Silas just glowered at them and turned back to his men. “What’s taking so long? OPEN FIRE!” 

With one last howl, Thundercracker snapped his arms all the way open and launched through. A few bullets made their way through and onto the armor on his back right as the door slammed shut. The room shook as the missiles from the turrets exploded on the other side 

He turned to the shut door behind them and crushed a control console next to it. “Hope that keeps them from opening it like in the movies.” 

Marissa didn’t realize she was shaking until they stopped for a moment to recollect themselves. “OK, let me down. We need to get the next door open. Let me look around.” They were in a small room that had a second blast door. He placed her on the ground and walked over to it. Rolling his shoulders, he confidently took a stand. “I can take care of this.” 

The winged mech braced his hands on either side of the room, slid one foot back, and put the other to the middle of the door. Marissa was not prepared for his heel to burst into flames. “What the hell?” She shouted over roar of engines. 

“Just give me a minute!” 

The heat rolling off the red-hot metal was getting to be unbearable in the small room, but his plan worked. He jammed his fist through the small opening and pulled it apart. “Ladies first.” The self-satisfied grin on her giant companion’s face would have been charming if they hadn’t been running from people trying to kill them. Marissa carefully maneuvered around the melting metal and went into the next room. Somehow yet another blast door. 

“They’re going to catch up to us at this rate.” 

“I can melt this door too.” 

He began to get himself into position and power up his thrusters again. Marissa instead began looking for another option. Almost immediately, she found a lever and an override command to the side. “Hey! Back away!” She tried to bellow over the noise of the fire. 

“What?!” 

“I said, back up!” 

“Back up? Why?” 

She wasn’t going to try to convince him if he wasn’t going to listen. Pulling the lever back, the door snapped open. Thundercracker would have fallen over if his foot hadn’t already been in front to catch him. When he gathered himself, he turned back to her, expression showcasing his surprise. 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” She looked past him, afraid there was another door. It seemed that was the last one, because nothing but the outside night was beyond the door. “Oh, thank god. Let’s get out of here.” 

He picked her up again and ran out. The fresh air never felt so good. Darkness shrouded the area, but the moonlight was just bright enough to make out the surroundings. She noticed that there were no buildings or anything around them. Just... forest? Grass? Looking behind them, Marissa was shocked to see the opening they came from was in the side of a cliff. 

“Where are we?” She shouted over the wind whipping by. 

“Not sure, but hold on!” 

The woman turned back to the front and her heart dropped. “What are you doing?!” They were headed for the end of another cliff. 

“I’m getting us away from here!” 

“By killing us?!” 

“By flying! Did you think the wings on my back were for show?” 

With that, he launched off the edge. The blast from his thrusters and force of the gale drowned out anything else she might have said. Her face stung from the cold air as they went higher into the night. 

\----- 

Thundercracker landed heavily in a clearing when he felt they had gone far enough for the moment. He fell to his knees, exhausted, and put Marissa on the ground. “I think we can take a second to get our bearings back.” His fans were working overtime to cool him down and to let other systems catch up. 

She stumbled forward on weak legs. “We made it.” Following suit, she sat down on the grass to rest as well. 

Once again, the pair found themselves just staring at each other, made easier by the fact his optics lit their faces so they could see. 

“I did promise you an explanation.” He started. 

“Y-yeah.” It was a lot, but she just wanted to rip the bandage off and get it all out in the open. Marissa was still having trouble understanding what they just went through, so no time like the present to get more confusing answers. 

He hesitated for just a moment, thinking about how he would word this. “I was telling the truth back there, for starters. I am Josh Boyd. The man who was your neighbor was a highly complex infiltration unit. Something went wrong when I activated it, causing me to lose my memories. I’m not sure how. Seeing my actual self caused something like a feedback loop, and I woke up. I’m not sure what I was doing in there. When I powered down, I was in the middle of the forest in an isolated location. Only two others knew where I was.” 

Thundercracker waited for her response. Marissa just gave him an inscrutable look, unmoving. She finally stood up and began to walk over to him. He cringed and angled away. 

“I want to see Josh.” She demanded. 

“He’s... not going to look good. I haven’t been able to send any power to him since I woke up.” 

“I want to see him.” 

Relenting, he took the unit out from his subspace, and gently laid it down in front of her. Dark veins ran all over it, and its fingertips were turning black. It looked like it had been burnt. 

“What happening to him?” 

“From what I can recall, it’s carbon based. Without any fuel or power, it’s deteriorating.” 

She continued to look silently on. The jet leaned over her. “I’m sorry. I wish it wasn’t like this and I was who you knew. You don’t deserve this.” He began to reach towards her, but thought better of it. “For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed being your friend. You’re an amazing person.” He rubbed the side of his helm and looked away. The Decepticon wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her. 

Marissa lifted her head, a shocked look on her face. “Are you leaving?” 

“I mean, I can’t stick around here. My position was compromised, too. And look at me.” He gestured to himself. “Can’t even pretend to be a car for you.” 

“I’m not sure what you mean by that.” 

He stood up, once again leaving her in awe at just how massive he was. He offered her his hand. “Come on, I’ll get you a little closer to town before I head back to base. It’s night, so I don’t have to worry as much about being spotted.” 

As she watched him fly off into the distance, she couldn’t help but feel saddened by the loss of not only her friend, but the real person behind him. Whoever this Thundercracker was, he didn’t feel like an alien invader. He felt... like Josh. He had even apologized for not being Josh. 

Now, he was gone. 

Marissa wasn’t sure where to go from here.


	9. The Opposite of Normal

The sun was just coming over the horizon when Marissa finally walked into her apartment complex. Turns out the lab was based only about twenty miles north of her city literally inside the mountains. That answered how they had escaped people’s notice. It had still been a challenge getting home. 

MECH had taken her wallet, and she had remembered along the way that she had forgotten her phone at the bar from the night before. At least the bad guys hadn’t gotten everything. A quick stop at the bar and she had her phone back. As she scrolled though her phone, messages from the actual car she had ordered that night popped up asking where she was, and finally leaving. The cop wanted to slap herself; if she had her phone on her, she might have been able to avoid this whole ordeal. 

Groaning, she reminded herself that it wasn’t her fault. Someone had it out for them and had taken advantage of her and Josh. It still felt awful. 

Josh. 

That’s right. He was gone. Was he? It seemed unreal when she thought back to the weird body that Thundercracker had referred to as Josh. 

She brushed by the annoying table in the hallway and made her way over to 611. Taking a deep breath and hoping for that this was all a nightmare, and knocked. 

No answer. No tell-tale sounds of someone being home. 

Marissa let her hand linger on her neighbor’s door as she backed away. “I don’t understand.” She murmured to no-one. When she finally got into her apartment, she threw herself on the bed. Weariness seemed to press her down and forbid her from moving ever again. But there was one thing stronger than her exhaustion. 

The burning desire to know what the hell was actually going on in the world. 

Forcing herself up a little, she grabbed her computer and began searching for anything and everything. Conspiracy theories, blurry pictures, bad videos, anything that could shed some light on what she had seen. Everything could be possible with the revelation they weren’t alone in the universe, or even alone on this earth. 

It seemed they could transform into other machines or vehicles from what she was reading. One man claimed that he had seen a car just get up and walk away. Oh, she thought distantly, that’s what Thundercracker meant. It made sense now, all the mysterious vehicles and planes the news kept reporting. Those were probably his friends, hiding in plain sight. He was obviously some kind of aircraft, so it made sense he wouldn’t want to come into the city. 

It scared her that there was an entire race of sentient mechanical aliens walking the Earth, and somehow, they had escaped notice for the most part. Or at least, that’s what they wanted you to believe. 

Now she was sounding crazy. Well, she would be if she wasn’t absolutely sure they existed. Only a few hours ago one of them was holding her in one hand. Who would she even report this too? How would she explain that an organization that has next to no evidence of its existence kidnapped her and her friend turned out to be an alien? No one would believe her. 

The morning quickly passed into night during her probing, and without even realizing it, she passed out while typing. 

Later, she woke up with her face pressed to the keyboard. Whoever was censoring the existence of Cybertronians on Earth was leaving mostly crazy people’s rantings behind to deter anyone who actually wanted to learn more. It was hard to sift through what sounded believable and what was definitely false. 

A phone ringing woke her up a little more. It was work. She picked it up, her sleepiness keeping her from figuring out what they could be calling her for. Marissa winced as the phone tapped the bruised side of her head when she answered. 

“Faireborn here.” 

“This is Chief Burns. Where are you? You never came in this morning. If you need to take a sick day, you need to tell me ahead of time.” 

Shit. “I’m so sorry, Chief. I’ll be there soon. I was... sick yesterday. I guess I didn’t hear my alarm.” 

“Alright, come see me when you get in.” 

She peeled herself off the bed and stumbled to the shower. Marissa should have probably just called in sick, but she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts. It was going to be a long day. Maybe she could get some information on Mr. Ross from the courthouse while she was there. MECH was still mostly an unknown variable. Any and all information would be helpful. After she got a reprimand. 

When Marissa jumped out of her parked car, she bumped right into Chief Burns himself. 

“Oh! I’m sorry, Chief. I was just walking in.” 

“Clearly. Follow me, Faireborn. I’m just about to patrol.” 

They walked to his car in silence. When they got to his car, he laid his hand on the hood and propped himself up. “Faireborn, you’ve never called out sick before, and you’ve never just skipped your shift. It worried me.” The chief looked at her closer. “Is that a bruise on your face?” 

Instinctively, she reached up and touched the side of her temple where the reminder of the previous day sat painfully. Makeup hadn’t been enough to cover it, apparently. Marissa had to come up with a believable lie quickly. “Yes sir. I had a sudden stop that caused my head to jerk forward and onto the wheel the other day. I’ll be fine.” 

Burns’ face didn’t move, but she could feel his disbelief directed at her. “Thankfully this sector is pretty slow,” He continued from before “and my patrol car needs the exercise. I can’t let this happen again though.” 

“Yes sir.” 

“Desk duty for you today. Get back to the normal schedule by your next shift.” He dismissed her. 

She idly ran her hand along the edge of his car’s hood as she walked around it to get back to the station, and she could have sworn the car was warm like it had been on patrol already. 

The cop sat down at her desk after running by the coffee machine. She would need as much caffeine as she could drink. 

\----- 

Marissa was dragging herself through the day, barely focusing on any task set before her. Some paperwork had to be done before looking up her target, after all. When she finally had the time to look up Agent Ross, it was nearly lunchtime. 

It said he worked for a local law firm, but that didn’t make sense. She knew he was trying to get money from the city, and the clerk had even called him a lobbyist, so this must be a cover. The cop knew she shouldn’t, but she decided to call up this place to see if Ross was even there. When they answered, she asked to speak to him. 

“Who?” 

“Adrian Ross. I found a wallet with this business's card in it with his name. May I speak with him to tell him I have his wallet?” Two smooth lies in a day, maybe she did have a future in politics after all. 

“I’m sorry to say ma’am, but we don’t have anyone who works here by that name.” 

“Oh.” Marissa tried to sound disappointed. “I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for your time.” 

Suspicions confirmed, she hung up to think some more. She looked a little farther into his information, and it showed that he started “working” in town about two years ago. MECH had made sure that he existed just enough in case someone got suspicious. Maybe there was something corresponding that happened in the city around then that would signify MECH’s formation or a link. 

She pulled up the last few bills and meetings the city had from the past two years. What got her attention was the first bill proposing a cutting the pension that had happened only a few months after Ross had moved in. It made too much sense. The money he was lobbying for had to come from somewhere. Mayor Luskey had to know Ross was from MECH, so what was he getting in return? 

More answers lead to more questions. Time to take this to the mayor. Marissa got up and started gathering her things and turned to the man in the next desk, “Hey, I’m headed out for lunch, in case anyone asks. I’ll be back soon.” 

It wasn’t a long drive to the City Council building from the station, so she would have time to investigate. She flashed her badge at the secretary in the front, “I’m Officer Faireborn. I need to see Mayor Luskey. Is he in right now?” 

The secretary gave instructions to his office, and she was on her way. She knocked on the door once, and let herself in. Mayor Luskey was not a brave man, and let out a terrified squawk when Marissa burst in. Without any hellos, she dove right into what was on her mind. “Mayor Luskey, I have questions about a certain organization that seems to be linked with you. I’m hoping you can shed some light on a few things.” 

“I - I – what?” 

Marissa leaned forward in an aggressive manner, “MECH, sir. I’m talking about MECH. I need answers. My friend and I were recently... approached by men working for them. After a little digging, I found that they are working with _you._ Care to explain?” 

Luskey was sweating profusely and refusing to meet her eyes. She pressed onward, “Sir, I have reason to believe they are dangerous people. You need to tell me what you know. I know that a certain Adrian Ross visits you frequently.” 

The mayor caved easily. Even though she knew he wasn’t going to last long, it still surprised her when he just began babbling. “You’re right! He comes to me all the time, asking for more money! He keeps promising some special technological improvements that would help the city, but he hasn’t actually come up with anything!” 

Tech? What special tech could they possibly give Luskey? Everything in the labs seemed pretty normal, nothing jumped out as unordinary. For a secret lab, that is. Definitely nothing that could be used city wide for civilians. It’s not like she was on the lookout for new city sweepers when her and Thundercracker... 

Ah. Of course. _New tech._ That explains a lot. Filching alien technology would certainly bring about new stuff. What better way to recreate it than to copy the real thing? She hoped Thundercracker hadn’t been there long enough for them to figure anything out. 

Her train of thought derailed when Luskey whimpered like she had just punched him. “I need the votes, and the election is soon. Surely you can understand how this benefits everyone?” 

“So you just take the city’s money over and over again, without seeing results? Because I sure don’t see any ‘technological improvements’ around here that would help us.” 

“Well, I... he’s very convincing. In our last meeting, he told me they were very close!” 

“Oh my god.” 

The little man was an idiot. He was promised votes, and he unwittingly threw the entire city to the wolves. MECH had gotten who knows how much money from him? No wonder there were so many budget and pension cuts. They were funding MECH. 

Marissa was livid. 

“What made you think that this was remotely acceptable? That’s an abuse of city resources!” 

Without giving him a chance to answer, she spun on her heel and slammed the door behind on her way out. There was no way someone was that stupid. “He won’t be getting my vote next year. If there is a next year for him.” She growled under her breath. 

The rest of the day at work was spent trying to be somewhat productive with anything. With the mayor revelation on her mind, and the lack of sleep dragging her down, not much was getting done. When it came time to go home, she couldn’t be more thankful. 

She caught herself knocking on Josh’s door again, just to check. The redhead knew it was futile to hope, but after the day she had, she needed someone to talk/rant to. Ayana was working tonight; they had passed by each other when Marissa was leaving. 

An absurd thought of Thundercracker opening the door and welcoming her in had her chuckling to herself. 

As expected though, no one answered. 

Her own apartment seemed to yawn in front of her, trying to swallow her whole. These past few days were so confusing. What was she going to do with this information? He obviously couldn’t get away with this. There had to be a way to open an investigation even though she didn’t have official evidence. In fact, she might get in a lot of trouble for what she did. 

That was a problem for future Marissa. The Marissa of the present was going to take a hot shower and attempt to sleep. 

\----- 

Her auburn hair was a mess in the morning from all the tossing and turning she did in her sleep. Images of Josh’s slowly degrading body kept popping up in her dreams. No matter how many times she told herself he was better off, her sensible side tried to insist there was no way they were the same person. The other side of her had to believe it was real, that Josh wasn’t dead. 

Obviously, Marissa was still exhausted. A nap later on today was in order on this blessed day off. Trying to get back into her routine, she turned on the TV after she dressed in her lazy clothes and sipped on her cup of coffee while she watched the news. The tired woman winced when she tried resting the side of her head on her fist, forgetting the bruise. The news today was dull, nothing interesting happened while she was away. 

She had nearly dozed off to the droning of the reporters when her phone began buzzing. Sitting up quickly, she picked it up from the table and looked at the caller ID and gave a hoarse laugh. 

Joshua Boyd was calling her. 

Trembling, she slowly pressed the answer button and raised it to her ear. “Josh?” 

“Well, technically, yes.” The voice on the other end conceded. 

She let out a sigh of relief. “I thought I was crazy.” 

“Oh, I’m sure you are, but that’s a conversation for later. Has anyone attacked you recently?” 

“Attacked? You mean at the lab?” 

“No, after that. Are you OK?” 

“Yes, I’m fine.” 

“Thank Primus. I’m on my way. You have to leave town for a while.” 

That bewildered her even more, and she wasn’t sure how that was possible. “On your way? Leave? Why?” 

“You’re not safe. Long story short, I got into a fight with my commander, and he deduced there was someone close to me during my time here. He's not a fan of organics.” He paused to let it sink it, then reiterated, “You have to leave.” 

Great. Life needed to be more complicated. Someone roughly slamming their fist against her door caused her to whirl around towards the noise. “Someone’s here.” 

“DO NOT ANSWER THAT.” Thundercracker sounded panicked. 

Marissa slowly inched towards the door, making sure to keep Thundercracker on the line, and peered out the peephole. Several men in SWAT grade armor but no logo stood outside. They all held heavy duty guns. She gasped and moved away. 

“Marissa? What’s going on? Please answer me!” 

“MECH’s found me.”


	10. Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this one just in time for my birthday. Happy birthday to me!  
> I love the Command Trine, so much room for exploration. Maybe more on them someday.

The air currents under Thundercracker’s wings felt amazing. His frame ached when he first flew out of the MECH labs, but since he wasn’t fleeing anymore, he could focus on the natural exhilaration of being in the air. Now that he was found out, however, it meant he had failed his mission and had to return to base. The seeker supposed that waking up under the very mountain he had been charged with infiltrating was worth something. After all, now MECH had a couple of broken doors and wrecked defenses. He wasn’t sure how long it would take them to recover, but maybe the Decepticons could do something with the information he did have. 

The ocean was just on the horizon, and only a few miles after the beach and under the water was the Nemesis. He should be able to reach out to Soundwave now, even with his damaged comm link. 

“Thundercracker to Soundwave. Approaching the Nemesis from the north. Requesting permission to come aboard.” 

There was a moment of silence after the comm ping was accepted on the other end. When Soundwave responded, it was with a question. “Query: Why has Thundercracker returned before mission time is completed?” 

“I was found out. There will be a lot to talk about in the debriefing with Megatron when I return. Again, asking permission to land.” 

“Permission granted.” 

The exact coordinates to the elevator down to the ship was sent to him. The jet angled down and dove into the water. The elevator wasn’t too far under the water, meant to be out of the way of the occasional passersby but far enough up so they wouldn’t suffer from the salt water for longer than they need be. It had taken the Constructicons some time to perfect it. Even for them, building upwards from the bottom of the ocean wasn’t a simple task. 

When the water drained from the elevator, it began its decent into the deep. Thundercracker was nervous about telling Megatron he had technically failed. So he focused instead of trying to shake as much water off of him as he could before the elevator stopped. 

He cocked his head upwards and leaned against the wall. Marissa should be home by now, he hoped. It was hard leaving a simple life as a human, if he was being honest with himself. Not having to worry about living the next day, surviving another attack, or starving to death on an alien planet was relaxing. 

Four million years of war was exhausting mentally and physically. Six months as a human that only had to worry about remembering things was, in comparison, very easy. Thundercracker already missed having someone who cared enough to check on him no reason. Marissa was a good friend. He shouldn’t care so much since he had only known her for a short amount of time, but it was hard not to. If only Josh was a real person. 

The elevator doors opened into a large empty room, save Soundwave and Starscream standing in the middle. Starscream had a very carefully guarded expression on his face, even more so than usual. Now that he was back, Thundercracker opened up his trine link to Skywarp and Starscream, trying to get some sense of normalcy back. Skywarp immediately responded with several excited questions about his return. Starscream on the other hand, had him blocked off. That was unusual and disturbing. 

No words of greeting were exchanged. The Air Commander and Communications Officer turned around and began walking towards the command center. A sense of foreboding stretched out before Thundercracker as he followed. He didn't know what happened while he was gone, but nothing felt the same so far. 

As expected, Megatron was in the command center waiting for them. Starscream and Soundwave split off to stand on either side of the warlord, striking an intimidating scene. Megatron stared hard at the returned seeker. “You are early, Thundercracker.” 

“I was discovered, my lord. I was ordered to abort the mission if such a thing happened.” 

“Indeed you were.” Megatron came towards him. “It does not mean I am not... disappointed in your excursion. Did you at least find anything out before you were outed?” 

“I woke up while being experimented on in the very ‘factory’ I was assigned to infiltrate.” 

That got everyone’s attention. After explaining his memory loss, he detailed his escape, while leaving out any part of Marissa. She didn’t need any attention from the Decepticons if Megatron decided she was a threat. 

“Why did it take you this long to contact us if you were in danger?” 

“As I said before, my lord, an error with the holoform communicator in my processor must have caused some shortage. I remembered nothing until I reactivated within the labs under the mountain.” 

The Warlord didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. “So, instead of finding a new energon resource for us, you have revealed us to the humans!” 

Thundercracker stiffed, wings held high in apprehension. Megaton was not known for his understanding or mercy, and ‘punishments’ had been known to happen for the slightest things. Some mechs came out of a meeting with their leader and went straight to the medbay where they were placed in medical stasis. 

Before Megatron could follow up the outburst, Starscream stepped in front of his trinemate, “My lord, Thundercracker has only just returned, and has been in stasis for nearly seven decacycles. Surely some actual rest is in order, and perhaps he can be of use to you after a good recharge. Especially a visit to the washracks.” 

The Decepticon leader narrowed his optics. “You dare interrupt me, Starscream? I thought you’d have learned by now.” 

Starscream snarled. “I am not your Second because I agreed with you every step of the way. I am your Second because I offer tactical advice and different viewpoints. I will never be your yes man, but I will always be a Decepticon. If you wish you ignore my suggestions, then it is upon your head that the failure falls when I am proven _right._ ” 

With a scowl, Megatron sat back on his throne, placated for the moment. “I will allow a day for recovery. We will reconvene later. Be prepared for the summons.” He leaned forward towards the seekers, “And if I do not receive enough information to satisfy me, Soundwave will be permitted to search your processor until I am.” 

Both fliers bowed and showed themselves out. They walked in silence for a while, and when Thundercracker couldn’t take it anymore, he commed his partner. :Nice to see you again too.: 

:Shut up. Wait until we are back in our quarters.: 

Skywarp stood quickly when they came through the doors. “TC! It’s great to have you back! It’s been hard only have two out of three. What did you find out? I’ll bet...” he stuttered when he realized that neither of them looked very happy. “What happened?” 

“That’s the problem. Nothing happened.” Thundercracker vented. “Something glitched, and now I’m just a waste of resources. I don’t want to talk about it right now.” He sent his distraught feelings through the link, unable to keep to himself anymore. Starscream’s side remained closed. 

It stung knowing that one of his trine was refusing to be seen by the others. It wasn’t natural. He risked Megatron’s wrath, but refused to get any closer? Why wasn’t Starscream letting them readjust to having him back? 

“What’s been going on since I’ve been gone?” The blue seeker asked instead. 

Skywarp volunteered to answer the question. “Less rations. More forced stasis. It’s been slow. Only Shockwave has been outside since you left. The seekers are getting restless.” 

“It’s not simple being Air Commander of a grounded air force. Something has to give, and give soon.” Starscream finally added to the conversation. 

Everything felt uncomfortable. Thundercracker once again wished he could have just stayed as Josh for a while longer. Life on the Nemesis seemed to have gotten exponentially worse in the time he was gone than in the three earth years they had been here. After idle chatter between the three of them, Thundercracker decided to clean up, get to his berth, and take his trine leader’s advice. Skywarp came over to help him plug in, “It really is good to have you back.” 

“Thanks. I hope we can figure something out since I failed.” 

“Yeah. The odds were stacked against you, but we aren’t the Command Trine for nothing.” 

Thundercracker hummed his agreement. “Hey, what’s wrong with Starscream? He hasn’t opened up to me since I got back.” 

Skywarp stilled behind him. “Like I said, it’s been a hard few decacycles. Especially for the Second. When you’re flanked on one side by Megatron himself, and your angry armada on the other, you kind of... shut down.” 

“But worse has happened than this. Starscream’s been nearly offlined several times before. Something else has to have happened.” 

Instead of answering Skywarp just inserted the last plug and initiated the recharge. Thundercracker fell back and powered down. 

\----- 

RECHARGE COMPLETE 

Thundercracker woke up slowly, feeling a lot more mentally clear since he had proper recharge. There were no summons yet, so he decided to collect his rations and wander around a bit. At the energon dispenser, he was required to show his fuel level. Mixmaster was the assigned guard today, and started waving Thundercracker away after looking at the gage. “Not low enough. Next!” 

“What? I’m at thirty percent! That qualifies me for rations!” 

“Wrong! It’s twenty percent now. That means you have to wait. Next!” 

“When did this happen? Twenty percent is too low! That’s damaging on several different internal systems!” 

Mixmaster didn’t actually dare to try and fight Thundercracker, he knew what he was capable of and how his trine would take it, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t threaten the seeker a little. “Get out of here. Now. Fuel requirements are at twenty percent. Megatron’s orders. And I don’t think you want to start a feud between a gestalt and the Command Trine.” 

Thundercracker knew there was no winning. He turned to walk away, but decided to flip his middle finger towards Mixmaster before actually leaving. The Constructicon gave him a baffled look, but it made the blue seeker feel better. 

It seemed the crew had already heard about his mission’s failure. He had returned without any energon, and the crisis had worsened. Thundercracker felt trapped. 

He knew wars went wrong. He knew they weren’t easy. There were losses, mistakes, deaths. 

But he also knew there were avoidable mistakes. 

The war had been necessary. The Functionalists were terrible, dangerous people that insisted on slavery of what they deemed lower class. It had been for this reason Thundercracker had joined the Decepticons. Since he had been considered lower class himself, he had jumped at the chance to join Starscream and Skywarp when they had presented the idea to him. After Starscream took down the senate, they found themselves irreversibly wound up with Megatron. 

They seemed unstoppable. When the Autobots tried to shut them down, the war truly began. 

And Cybertron began dying. 

The war was worth freedom, but it hadn’t been worth their planet’s destruction. At that point though, he was in too deep. It was hard to doubt your leader after following him for a few million years. 

Yet, doubt crept in regardless. 

Trapped on an alien planet fighting a war with no meaning anymore, he felt like he was wasting away. 

The summons from Megatron finally came, but not the summons he was expecting. The whole of command was going to meet in the control center. He walked on Starscream’s right side as they entered the room. Once again, he felt the weight of The Decepticon Cause pressing down on his shoulders. 

At the center of the holographic table a map of some earth city was being projected. Megatron stood studying it with Soundwave speaking in a low tone at his side. When the Command Trine walked in, he looked up, the glow from the map cast evil shadows across his face. With a wave of his hand, they all took their places around the table and stood at attention. 

“With the revelation of Thundercracker’s failure, and the consequent human discovery of us, I have decided to take everything a step further. You are here for a briefing of our next move.” 

Thundercracker couldn’t stop himself, “With all due respect, sir. My frame was captured in what was supposed to be a hidden area while I was unable to do anything about it.” 

Megatron optics flashed a dangerous shade of red. “I will only say this once: You will not interrupt me again.” He did not need to say anything else. 

:Why would you say that? It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s made up his mind.: Starscream shot over the comms. 

:You’re just going to let him make it seem that I failed on purpose? I couldn’t do anything about it once I powered up the holoform.: 

:As I said before, it doesn’t matter.: 

:If we were formed of the people, then why do we get to ignore the people now?: 

:Desperate measures, Thundercracker.: 

Megatron looked over to them, as if sensing their internal argument. “Perhaps you would like to tell me how many humans know what you really are?” 

"I’m not sure. When I woke up, I wasn’t counting how many there were in the lab. I never thought about it when I was trying not to die.” 

The warlord’s optics narrowed at the retort. “Disrespectful seeker. What have you been doing in your absence? If I wanted another Starscream, I would have figured out how to clone him.” 

Thundercracker recognized the rhetorical question and wisely remained silent. 

Soundwave stepped up, distracting everyone from the tension in the room. “Operation: Announcement. We will be showing Earth what we are capable of. Testing has already been underway. Conclusion: Decepticons will be supreme.” 

The map of the town displayed suddenly changed to nothing but carnage. “What you now see is the remains of the town you saw before. Our bomb is very effective.” Megatron showcased it like his newest prize. “Soundwave cut it off from all communication before we sent it out, so very few humans living know this happened. The next bomb, however, will not be blacked out. It will be there to showcase our power!” 

No one moved or spoke at first, stunned at the turn this meeting had taken. Thousands of humans had just died, Thundercracker thought, thousands of humans that had nothing to do with us. When the next city snapped into focus, his spark froze within his chassis. Marissa’s city was on display. 

“Here,” Megatron’s voice snapped him out of his shock, “is our next target. We will have to move quickly before the humans decide to put up defenses. That’s why we are sending it out tomorrow.” He stared at Thundercracker as though daring him to speak up again. 

For the rest of the briefing, Thundercracker had stayed silent and stock still. His trinemates knew he was agitated, and when the briefing ended, they weren’t surprised when he didn’t move to leave with them. Thundercracker approached Megatron, “My lord, I would beg you reconsider the attack and missile. We cannot just destroy another human city.” 

“And why, pray tell, can’t we?” Megatron asked too calmly. "I have already proven we are more than able.” 

Thundercracker tried to formulate an answer that didn’t paint him as suspicious. “It seems like an unwise waste of resources. Why would you kill people that have nothing to do with our war? They are sentient beings.” 

“They themselves are a well of resources! We cannot continue hiding in the shadows, trying the same tactic over and over. Even you have failed. Once we prove we can conquer the humans at a moment’s notice, they will be more than glad to hand over all that we need.” 

“Why should they suffer our war? Humans have done nothing to us.” 

“They are organics. They don’t need to ‘do’ anything but provide fuel.” 

Thundercracker attempted to bite his tongue, but it was very clear that Megatron was baiting him with the stare he was giving him. His anger took the bait. “If you follow that logic you are no better than the people we rebelled against in beginning! What makes us different from the Functionists if we go down this path?” 

Megatron used to be a miner and a gladiator, so it didn’t come as a surprise when his punch sent Thundercracker to the floor quickly. 

Starscream stood back while Skywarp ran over to help him up. “What crazy ideas are you sniveling about? If we can’t make humans submit to us, we won’t ever get enough energon again! WE ARE STUCK HERE!” The red and white seeker growled from behind. 

“I can’t let her die!” 

At this, the Decepticon leader came forward and grabbed him by the cockpit. “Her?! An organic is what you’re worried about?” 

“Y-Yes.” Thundercracker stammered. “But even so, this is not the Decepticon Cause! Who are we to decide if the human race should survive?” 

“You dare correct me on The Cause? _Me?_ ” Megatron was incensed. His fusion cannon began to whine as he powered it up. “And here I was under the impression you were the most reasonable of your trine. Your time as a human has made you soft, and you have forgotten what you are. I have respected your abilities as a soldier, but in the end, you are simply that. A soldier. You need to relearn your place in my army.” 

Thundercracker heard a distant shout as the cannon was pressed to his side. The sound of the weapon going off and the panicked noises of his partners were the last thing he remembered before he fell into stasis from the pain. 

\----- 

Thundercracker awoke in the medbay with Hook leaning over him. His left side felt numb, so he must be wearing pain patches. 

“It’s not often I see you in here, Thundercracker.” Hook commented. “of all the seekers on this ship, I see you the least. Never caused by Megatron, either.” 

He didn’t respond, and craned his neck to see what the damage was. The blast had taken out a good chunk of the armor on his chassis. Hook had replaced most of it, but it was grey and patchy like a rushed job. He was reminded that the gestalt member only had medical training, and wasn’t a forged medic. As Hook walked away, he thanked Primus that at least he was alive. 

“Did you hear about my mission?” 

Hook turned to him, confused. “Your failed one? Of course I have.” 

“You heard why?” 

“Something about you losing your memory, right?” 

“Yes.” 

“Shame. Everything should have gone to plan. Shockwave had done some simulations, so if anything had gone wrong, he should have known.” 

This was the first time Thundercracker had heard of the simulations. Shockwave wasn’t known for being sloppy, either. So what went wrong? 

“How long was I out?” 

“About 8 joors. Your fuel pump was nicked, so I had to induce medical stasis so you didn’t offline. Took a bit to wake you up, but you should be fully functional when the pain patch wears off.” 

8 joors! The missile was going to be finished soon! He couldn’t let that happen. He pushed himself up on the berth and had to sit still for a moment when vertigo hit him. It was a very unsettling feeling for a flight frame. 

“I see that you are awake. My apologies I was unable to be there for your first debriefing. I have only just gotten back aboard the Nemesis myself.” 

Speak of the devil. Shockwave just let himself into the medbay and came over to the injured jet. His one eye focused on the wound on Thundercracker’s side. “Doesn’t look like the news was well received.” 

“Wow, figure that out all by yourself? Amazing.” He snapped irritably back. Like he needed to be reminded again.

A sense of déjà vu began to bug Thundercracker. He didn’t know why. Like Hook had said, it wasn’t like he was in the medbay all the time. Shockwave continued to look over him like studying a subject when the reason for the feeling hit him. 

Shockwave’s energy signature. He had sensed it recently in MECH’s labs. It wasn’t his imagination. 

He wobbled as he tried to get up. The seeker wasn’t going to stick around if Shockwave was here to finish what he had obviously started. He wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, but he didn’t want to find out now. 

“Take it easy, seeker. Don’t try flying for a bit either.” Neither Hook of Shockwave tried to keep him from leaving. 

He stumbled along the hallway, trying to steady himself. Thundercracker had made it halfway to the armory when he heard the sound of air snapping in place. He was suddenly was grabbed by either wing and spun around. Skywarp blocked his way. “Where do you think you’re going?” The teleporter demanded. 

He couldn’t hide his intentions from him. “I have to stop the missile from launching.” 

“Are you crazy?! Megatron won’t let you off easy if he catches you. He might even kill you this time!” He shook his trinemate. “You’re throwing your life away! Megatron knows what he’s doing!” 

“I’m not so sure anymore.” 

Skywarp backed up, horrified look on his face. “You don’t mean that.” 

“I think I do.” Thundercracker said slowly. 

The black seeker’s wings dropped in dismay. “I won’t stop you. But if you want to die for a stupid reason, I won’t help you. Starscream and I... we’ve tried to protect you while you were gone. Megatron and Soundwave were watching you, you know? Wondering why you weren’t taking action. Starscream tried to vouch for you and your plans. He knew something had gone wrong. Tried to convince everyone a rescue was needed. Megatron responded by tearing off his right wing. Self-repair and Hook still haven’t made it the same for him yet. 

“If you want to abandon us, I won’t stop you. Don't say I didn’t warn you when you find out you have nowhere to go.” 

They stared at each other. Brothers-in-arms. Trine. Four million years plus together. It hurt when Thundercracker finally spoke, “Thank you for everything.” and turned back to his goal. He flinched when he heard a _VOP_. A decision had to be made to avoid being found out further. For the first time since they were together, Thundercracker shut down his link to the trine. It felt... empty. 

There were many people in the armory, celebrating the upcoming devastation that was about to follow. Megatron was giving a speech. 

“... With this! The organics will kneel before us! The Autobots won’t dare retaliate for fear we will do more than just enslave the humans. Our time is at hand! Soon, we will have more energon that we will know what to do with, and leave this cursed rock to conquer all!” The missile was about to be launched. 

The cheering drowned out any noise Thundercracker made as he limped by. If he couldn’t stop it here, he would have to stop it in the air. 

At the elevator entrance, Astrotrain was standing by on guard duty. “Hey, TC. What’s going on? Heard Megatron tried to kill you.” 

“Correct. Sorry about this, Astrotrain.” 

“Sorry about wha -” 

The shuttle went down when a fully powered blast from Thundercracker’s null ray hit him in the face. With him out of the way, there was only one more obstruction. The elevator. It moved pretty quickly upwards, but never felt fast enough. When it blessedly reached the top, he began to tear the walls apart, bend the doors open, and jam the mechanism. The Constructicons were geniuses when it came to building, but Thundercracker had always been a bit bigger and stronger than most seekers, so tearing the elevator apart wasn’t too difficult, even with his injury. Water began to pour into a crack he had made, but the damage was done. No one would be coming up through here for a while. 

The seeker burst though the ocean’s surface a moment later. The missile would not be far behind, so he hovered over the water while he waited. 

What Skywarp said was true. He had nowhere to go now, but he would never want to go back. After he stopped the missile, Thundercracker resolved to get Marissa to safety. Shockwave definitely knew who she was, and Megatron wasn’t going to wait long to figure out how to get to her. 

His thoughts were cut short when a ripple over the water introduced the missile to the air. It was fast! 

But Thundercracker was faster. He sped off after it after changing to his alt mode. Nothing on earth could stop him.


	11. Important Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kept getting longer and longer, so I decided to split it.

Starscream was just barely restraining himself from grimacing the entire time Megatron was giving his grandiose speech. He didn’t give one bolt about the humans that had died and were going to die, Starscream was upset that it took their glorious leader this long to think of something. He thought the Decepticons would have thrown caution to the wind a long time ago. The Second hated admitting Megatron was right, drastic steps had to be taken. Either way, they would lose more before gaining anything. 

It was Shockwave that concerned him the most. Megatron only got these ideas when the scientific officer was granted time outside. It couldn't be coincidence that suddenly they had enough resources to make not one, but two weapons of mass destruction. Starscream never trusted Shockwave. There was only two mechs he trusted, and even then, he would never admit it or act like it. 

Speaking of trusted mechs, he felt the rush of air behind him, announcing Skywarp’s arrival. 

“You didn’t miss much. The speech is the same as always.” Starscream said in an offhanded manner. 

“He’s leaving.” 

“What?” That caused the lead seeker to turn around and look Skywarp in the optics. “Who’s leaving? You can’t tell me that...” Starscream pushed his trinemate out of the room to hear him better. The roar of the crowd and the inciting leader quieted down just enough to focus. 

“TC is leaving right now. He got out of the medbay and started out immediately. I was hoping that he was just worried about the wound Megatron gave him, but... something else had him scared. I could feel it before he cut me off.” 

Starscream felt like a damaged audio clip when he repeated Skywarp’s words again. “Cut you off?” 

“He shut down his side of the link.” 

The red and white seeker opened his connection and checked, sure enough, where he would usually sense Thundercracker, it was a void. It gave him pause. “He’s... never done that before. He only even tuned it down when he went incognito. What happened? Why didn’t you stop him?” 

The teleporter’s optics flickered as he tried to recall everything exactly. He told his leader what was said in their conversation and Thundercracker’s reactions. Starscream bit at the air in frustration. “There had to have been something else. He knows Megatron and knows there are worse punishments, so what else happened?” 

“Are you going to stop him?” 

Starscream looked at Skywarp, the air of betrayal was thick around both of them. “No. Let him do what he wants. He’ll be back eventually.” He smiled, showing his sharpened canines. “And we’ll be ready.” 

\----- 

There was a lot more concerning problems than anything the news could report on while Marissa was trying back away from the rattling door. Well, so she thought. No one could have predicted a foreign missile on a trajectory right for the center of town. 

It came as a complete surprise. The news reporters were saying it was only a few minutes away and currently did not know the extent of the damage it would cause. No one knew what country had decided their city was a good target. They urged everyone to get away from the center of the city as quickly as possible. Marissa knew they were only saying that, and that there was no way anyone would be able to evacuate in time. 

It didn’t really matter for her, she would probably be shot to death here in a little while. 

“Missile? What do you mean?” Marissa heard the men outside her door pause, probably getting some report over their radio system. With them distracted, she returned her focus to the report on the TV. 

What was happening? How could life be any more chaotic than this? She had survived two tours overseas and gotten a bullet embedded in her humerus. She had escaped an evil organization just to die in her own home by explosion. 

With all this happening, she had forgotten Thundercracker was still on the phone. “I... Thundercracker, I think I’m about to die. There’s a bomb or missile or something right for the city. It doesn’t matter MECH’s at my door anymore.” 

“Not if I can help it!” He announced. Then promptly hung up. 

Marissa looked at the phone, a little upset that he would just hang up like that. Sitting back down on the couch, she resigned to just waiting. At least MECH would go down with her. Less than a year ago, she would have never imagined she would be in this position. Aliens weren’t on her life itinerary. 

The reporter on the news suddenly sat up, hand pressed to his ear. “This just in! It seems an aircraft has just caught up with the missile. Reports are unsure who deployed the jet, but perhaps we can hope it can halt the weapon in its path.” 

That caught her attention. Aircraft? 

Thundercracker was not known for dumb ideas, but he wasn’t immune to having one. 

Only a million years into the war, Thundercracker had jumped Prime. The Optimus Prime. 

Right before Polyhex fell, there was a skirmish on the outskirts. The Autobots had surprised the Decepticon army while they were readying for a siege. Prime himself had led the charge, throwing everything in his path into disarray. This was early on in the war when flight frames were still underestimated, so when Starscream’s Seekers joined the fray, it began to turn the tide of the battle. 

As he was flying over the battlefield using his sonic booms to confuse the Autobots, the blue seeker spotted Optimus Prime in the center of it all, blasting away at anyone who came near him. 

“I have an idea. It may sound crazy.” 

“Thundercracker, you will stay in formation and continue with the plan.” Starscream had commanded. “Crazy ideas are for Skywarp, he can get out of situations faster.” 

“Prime is right there! If I distract him while Megatron crosses from the other side of the field, maybe-” 

“Maybe nothing. Stay with us.” 

Thundercracker saw Prime shoot a Decepticon that had tried to come from behind him. “Sorry, Starscream. I can’t let this opportunity pass us by.” And dropped out of the sky. 

The seeker had heavy armor, so falling from such a height wasn’t going to hurt too much. Especially when the landing spot was the enemy leader. 

Prime was very surprised when he suddenly was pinned from above. He wasn’t looking upwards nearly as much as he should have, letting Powerglide and Silverbolt handle the aerial side of battle. Seekers were built different, though. Faster than most Autobot flight frames, it was harder to keep up with them than they had planned. 

The two transformers grappled with each other for a moment while they gathered their bearings. When they both figured out what was going on, they stilled, gawking at each other for different reasons. Both resumed the fight after a nanoklik, all the while Thundercracker’s processor pounding. Not because of the fall, but because _Starscream and Skywarp would not shut up and let him focus._ Couldn’t they see he was fighting Prime? 

A well-placed kick to the cockpit had him stumbling back, then staring at the edge of an axe pointed at his face. “I will admit, I underestimated you, seeker.” 

“And you probably will continue to do so, won’t you?” 

Before Prime could answer the question posed to him, the jet had swung his legs up and blasted the faction leader in his own legs with his thrusters. As Optimus struggled to regain his balance, that was when Megatron decided to show up. The Autobots had to retreat soon afterwards. 

Starscream had thrown an absolute fit after the battle was over because of Thundercracker’s stunt. He swore up and down that he would never let him get away with something like that again. 

Compared to dropping in on the Prime, catching a missile and publicizing himself to planet Earth shouldn’t be too bad. 

He caught up with the missile without much difficulty, but after that, the plan fell short just a little. Where did one dispose of a highly volatile explosive? He should have probably figured that out over the ocean. He flew over the missile before transforming and hugging it. It stuttered under his weight and slowed down a bit, and he began kicking at the thrusters with his own. Decelerating further, he started looking around for a suitable place to put it down. 

There. He dove down towards a clearing in the valley he felt was far enough away from civilization. While he would have loved to stick it through MECH’s front door, he wasn’t sure how far the affected area would reach. The labs had been fairly secluded, but he had noticed random houses along the nearest road. The seeker also wasn't sure if this missile hadn’t been safeguarded with a timer just in case something went wrong, so getting rid of it as quickly as possible was in the best interest. 

After tearing out the last of the thrusters on the missile, he pushed it downwards in its new intended spot and flew away as fast as he could. He could feel the heat from the explosion on his back, and thought about the devastation that would have come from it if he hadn’t intervened. Maybe if he had done his job right in the first place, he wouldn’t be in this position anyway. 

That was neither here nor there. The fact of the matter was that Thundercracker was doing what he felt was right for the first time in a long time. Now that one problem was taken care of, he had to help Marissa out of whatever MECH was about to do. His side was sending shooting pains throughout his whole frame, but he couldn’t turn off the pain receptors without it affecting his flying. 

He still had a ways to go, but at mach 8, it wouldn’t take long to get to her. A portion of the forest flattened as the powerful sonic boom burst from behind him. 

“I don’t know how it happened, but the missile was stopped! It landed in a valley! We’re saved!” The new reporter was ecstatic. Marissa’s jaw dropped. These past five minutes had given her a roller coaster of emotions, and she hadn’t even finished her coffee. She looked back at the door. MECH wasn’t going to wait forever, they were probably receiving instructions to continue right about now. 

With renewed energy, she began to formulate a plan. When (not if) the MECH agents came through her door, she needed to be hidden from sight to buy more time. There was a space under the counter where a trash can was supposed to be, but she had left it empty and put her trash can under the sink instead. Marissa darted into that space and hunkered down, waiting for them to come in. She dialed Thundercracker. 

“Hey! Sorry about hanging up. I had to focus.” His bright voice came over the phone after half a ring. 

“So it was you who stopped the missile coming towards us?” 

“Yeah, who else would it be?” 

Marissa’s head turned when she heard her door crack. “Listen, MECH’s recovered and about to break down my door.” She found herself confused at the events. “Are you really on your way here?” 

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He replied. 

“But... it’s the middle of the day! People will see you!” Why was she arguing? The cornered cop needed a little help. 

“None of that matters. I’m coming for you. You matter more.” 

You matter more. The words floored her. Marissa couldn’t describe the feeling coursing through her at that moment. She was important? This alien was giving up who knows how long his kind had worked at keeping themselves secret just for her. 

The door finally gave way as the armored agents began to spread out. Marissa pressed herself as far back into her nook as she could go. The door wasn’t that far from her hiding spot, so as soon as the intruders got far enough from her or into the next room, she could make a break for it. 

The redhead whispered harshly into her phone. “Can you stay on the line for me?” 

“Of course. I’m about to fly over the apartments.” 

Apparently “about to” meant three seconds later. The scream of jet engines scared her because all the internal alarms in her head were telling her that it was too close for comfort. Pushing those feelings away, she told herself that those jet engines were actually a cause for comfort. Thundercracker had made it to her front door. 

“It’s here! It’s about to land, get ready to engage!” One of the agents shouted over his radio. A second later, the building shook as something heavy landed right outside. 

The voice on her phone confirmed her conclusions. “OK, as you probably heard, I’m at the apartments. Right outside the west entrance. Get down here and I’ll get us out.” 

The men in her apartment were momentarily distracted and looking out the window. Marissa took the opportunity and bolted out the shattered front door. A loud voice came from outside, taunting the agents that she supposed were outside. “You wanted me? I’m here. Now come on!” Gunfire and the sound of crumbling road came from that direction. 

The stairs weren’t too far from her apartment, only about halfway down the hallway. Marissa tried to quickly but quietly race towards the exit, but had to stop quickly when she heard voices coming up in the stairwell. If there were more agents outside, it stood to reason there could be more inside the building than in her apartment. She was effectively trapped. Unless… 

“You said you were on the west side, right?” She had a crazy idea. 

An explosion came from that direction. “Yeah, right over here.” 

“I can’t make it down to the first floor. How good are you at catching stuff? I think I’m coming out the window.” 

“What?! The one at the end of the hall?” 

“Yep. Can you catch me?” 

A pause, then with conviction, “Yes. Now hurry. I think they’ve called for backup, and I’m hurt.” 

Shouting from her apartment behind her warned her that the agents would be coming out soon. Her voice shook as it sunk in that she was really doing this. “I’m hanging up. Get ready.” She pressed the end call button and pocketed her phone. 

“Hey! There she is!” A voice called out from behind her. An agent had sneaked up behind her while she had paused to figure things out. He ran towards her, rifle raised like he was going to hit her. Marissa ducked under his swing at the last minute, and jumped forward and tackled him to the ground. She knew others had heard his shout, so she didn’t have time to beat the shit out of him like she wanted to. She got up, turned around, and bolted down the hallway. 

Marissa ran as fast as she could towards the window, trying to gain as much momentum as possible to give Thundercracker outside more time to react. When she passed the annoying side table and vase, she grabbed the ugly vase and knocked the table to the floor behind her to try and slow down anyone who might be chasing her. Jumping through the window was bound to get her cut up, so she used the garish vase to break the glass before she reached it. The thrill of actually destroying the vase made her so happy for just a moment, before she was midair. 

If he was being perfectly honest, all these men wouldn’t have been a problem for Thundercracker if he was fully fueled, charged, and repaired. Right now, he was struggling to focus through the planning with Marissa while guarding his injured side. Hook’s patches weren’t meant to hold though battle. Several bodies littered the ground around him, and he felt no remorse. These humans meant to kill Marissa and cut him open. 

The sound of glass breaking above him drew his attention. The vase that Marissa always complained about had just come through the window on the 6th floor, proceeded by Marissa herself. The light reflections that bounced off the glass created a sort of halo around her. It was a stunning sight to behold, and something he would recall often when thinking about her in the future. 

The jet activated his thrusters and jumped. He caught her as gently as he could and cradled the woman in both hands. Pavement cracked further when he landed and made the remaining surrounding agents scatter a bit. Woman and mech took a split second to give each other a once over, assuring themselves that they were real. Once that second was over, Thundercracker let out a short, nervous laugh, and took off running down the road to give himself more room to take off. Marissa was ready this time and held on tightly to his fingers when they shot up into the sky. 

When they were in the air, Thundercracker shouted over the wind, “This is probably going to be weird for you, so hold on!” And let her go. 

Marissa was once again rendered speechless by him. After saving her, he just drops her a couple of hundred feet in the air? She almost began screaming in shock when suddenly she was surrounded by moving machinery. As what became a cockpit closed around her, she realized she wasn’t breathing, and let out a gasp. “Thundercracker?” Marissa choked out. 

His voice came from everywhere inside. “It’s me. I can fly faster this way.” 

“Ah.” She tried to steady her breathing. “I should have guessed.” 

The flew in silence for a bit, before he spoke up. “We should discuss our next move now that we aren’t cornered.” 

“Do you have somewhere to go? I don’t know much about the aliens on Earth.” 

“Well,” he groaned, “I alienated myself from my faction, and it’s not like I can hide as well as some others, and…. If you stick around with me, you’re in more danger. I was going to just drop you off somewhere safe.” 

“Safe? Somewhere safe? If your friends don’t like you anymore, then who is left?” 

“My enemies.” 

\----- 

He gave her a very short version of the Autobot verses the Decepticon story, just enough to describe who the others were. Then told her she would be protected from MECH and others with the Autobots. Marissa wasn’t having it. 

“No, you aren’t just ‘dropping me off’ with some other robots that I don’t even know. What if they don’t like humans like your group?” 

“They like humans! I know they have human friends! It’s just like the preachy Prime to like organics immediately.” Thundercracker countered. 

“Nuh uh. If you’re going to keep me safe, you’re coming with me. If they’re as goody two shoes as you’ve made them seem, then I’ll have a chance to argue with them.” 

“I’m... not exactly sure they’ll welcome me with open arms. Even if I have left my faction behind. I’ve been fighting them for a very long time.” 

They bickered some more. Marissa wasn’t going to let him go that easily though. She lost Josh, regained Thundercracker, and ran away with him. There was no way he was just leaving again. “Listen, you’re my friend, and I want you to come with me. Please let me try to convince these Autobots to let you in. It’s not like you’re a Decepticon anymore.” 

“I am to the core. It's the rest of them that have strayed from the original purpose.” 

“Maybe don’t say that to potential assistance. We can talk about that later.” 

Along the side of another mountain, they began to descend. Thundercracker had a vague idea where the Autobot base was located, so he landed in a clearing near the suspected coordinates and let Marissa out on the ground. “OK, stay here. I’m going to try and get their attention so they come outside.” 

“How?” 

“Cover your ears. I’m going to make some noise.” 

The seeker took off to the skies again, transformed to his jet mode, but stayed low. Engines powered up, and let out a powerful sonic boom. On the ground, Marissa fell on her back with her hands over her ears. She wasn’t prepared for a noise like that. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what a sonic boom was, but she wasn’t sure it was supposed to be this strong. Wanting to avoid falling over again, she remained in the dirt looking up, watching the blue jet circle around again to let out another boom. 

About two minutes into this, she noticed trees shaking over to the side from the direction of the mountain. Marissa let her ears go to cover her mouth when three more robots pushed through the foliage. A light blue one was leading a slightly shorter pair of robots, one red and one yellow. With her ears now uncovered, she noticed they were speaking amongst themselves. 

“Man, why’d you have to get both of us? I was busy polishing my chassis.” The red one complained. 

“I told you, I need you -” Another sonic boom interrupted them. “That, I need both of you for that.” 

The pair looked up and squinted. “Is that Thundercracker?” The yellow one questioned. 

“Yeah, I’d recognize his engines anywhere. Well, and the strong sonic booms.” 

The red robot stepped up and made the motion of cracking his knuckles even though there was nothing to crack. “Well dontcha worry about nothing, Mirage! Me and Sunny’ll get him down here and see what’s up in no time.” 

“I just want to question him, Sideswipe. Don’t completely wreck him.” 

“JET JUDOOOOOO!!!” Was the only reply that Mirage got after that. 

Sideswipe and “Sunny” ran up the mountain and began jumping around wildly, waiting for their target to fly a little closer. After bouncing off a particularly large boulder on the side of the valley, the red robot caught Thundercracker by the nosecone when he passed by and started them spinning in the air. The yellow mech joined in and weighed them down completely, bringing them all crashing to the ground. Thundercracker transformed into robot mode when he first hit the earth but was immediately restrained, getting his face pushed into the dirt. 

“Gotcha!!” Sideswipe crowed.


	12. Coming to Terms (Of Agreement)

No turning back now. 

It felt like she was a doll in a regular house. Everything was Cybertronian sized: the furniture, the doors, the computer screens. Marissa was in a whole new world, and she wasn’t sure how she would ever get used to it. 

Currently, her and Thundercracker were placed in what seemed to be a basic interrogation room. Only furnished with a table and chairs set up across from each other, what she was sure was a one way window, and a surly looking mech standing stiffly at the door. He was black and white with… wings? They seemed to small too fly, and looking closer, Marissa saw the word “police” written on the side of them. How odd. 

The two visitors sat side by side, a little unsure of themselves now they had made it in. At least when the grumpy mech that was guarding them came in the room, he tossed a human sized chair at them. Thundercracker has caught it as it arced towards them, and snapped at the other to be careful. The black and white mech had said nothing, and took his stand by the door. They had been told to wait here until Optimus Prime could come with a few of his command to discuss their situation. 

Thundercracker was covered in moist earth from head to toe, since those two Autobots had literally drug him through the mud. His patchy repair job on his side had broken open a bit, allowing some glowing, pinkish liquid to run down his hip and leg. The opposite wing had been dented when he had crashed, and aggravated in Sideswipe’s hands. When they were walking in, Marissa noticed him wincing as their escorts pushed him along. 

Marissa hadn’t had time to put any makeup over her bruised face today, not that it would have mattered now. There were several dark smears across her cheeks where she had tried to brush her hair out her face with her dirty hands. Her hair was a wind-blown mess, mixed with grass and twigs from the forest floor. To tie the look all together, her arms and clothes were covered in small glass cuts. Jumping out of a window had its consequences. 

Both of them looked like a total mess. Wounded, tired, and a little confused. Perfect for meeting the leader of the opposite faction to beg for sanctuary. 

_About an hour earlier._

The two brightly colored mechs laughed haughtily as Thundercracker tried to get his mouth out of the dirt. 

“Alright, alright.” The blue mech known as Mirage came over, waving his hand in a downward motion. “Let him say his piece. I’m sure he had a _real good reason_ for circling near our base.” He leaned down closer, “In fact, one might say you were trying to get us out here. If I wasn’t so confident in my team, I might be worried.” 

“I need to talk to someone. About help.” The grounded seeker spat out like it pained him as much as the crash to say the words. 

“Last I recalled, we aren’t really into bargaining with the enemy. Why would we help you?” Sideswipe sneered, putting a bit more pressure on a wing. 

Thundercracker’s wing made an unpleasant noise as the metal gave way, “We need a place to stay, for protection!” 

Suddenly Mirage and “Sunny” were looking around the area, unsubspacing their guns and pointing them everywhere. “WE?!” 

Marissa took that as her queue to introduce herself. She pushed herself off the ground and made her way through the bracken towards the four giants. “Yes, we.” Three pairs of blue optics trained on her, and the cop stood as still as she could when their weapons pointed at her. 

“Like he said, we need your help.” The Autobots seemed at a loss for words, and looked back and forth between the unlikely pair. 

_In the base_

Marissa really needed some sleep. 

Their guard moved away from the door and allowed two more mechs to come into the room. The huge red and blue one (she recognized him as “Prime” from Thundercracker’s description) took the seat on the opposite end of the table, but the second one stood back in the door with a thunderstruck look upon his face. It changed to a snarl when he spotted Marissa sitting at the seeker’s elbow, and he marched up to Prime and said something to him not in English. It sounded like a weird mechanical warble interspersed with clicks and beeps. 

Thundercracker replied in the strange language, the look on his face showed that he was shocked. Marissa had no idea what was being said, but being in the dark was going to get old fast. After a few more minutes of waiting patiently, she spoke up, “Excuse me, I’d appreciated it if you would talk about me in a way I could understand!” 

Everyone in the room fell quiet and looked at her. Prime spoke up first, “Forgive me. Ratchet here was not sure if we should discuss anything in front of a kidnapped civilian.” His voice was smooth and reassuring, but she wasn’t willing to trust him just yet. 

“Kidnapped? I came with him on my own free will!” 

The one referred to as Ratchet spoke up, gruff voice drawing her attention. “That’s not what the human news sources say. I saw this one” He jerked his thumb towards Thundercracker “pluck you from your living quarters and fly off on one of the television channels.” 

“He didn’t kidnap me! I asked for help and he came to get me!” 

Prime held his hands up in a pacifying motion, “How about we start from the beginning? That would clear a lot of confusion up. Both of you look like you’ve had a hard day.” 

\----- 

They told a heavily abbreviated story. About Josh. About MECH. About their escapes. Thundercracker and Marissa seemed to agree on what was necessary and superfluous without trouble. If one left a part of the story out, the other would just roll with it, trusting there was a good reason for it. One such topic was Ayana. No need to get her involved in the shitshow they were in. Their story finished with their request for sanctuary with the Autobots. 

“Trust me. I wouldn’t be here unless I absolutely had to be.” Thundercracker grumbled. 

“Me asking you to come along is that much of a pain?” Marissa cocked a brow. 

“...No.” 

Prime and Ratchet mulled over the information given to them. Ratchet especially was staring very hard at the refugees, mistrust lining his face. Their warden at the door finally walked over and joined the other two interrogators, “How do we know the ‘Cons haven’t developed some kind of cortical patch that works on humans? She could be brainwashed.” 

“Prowl’s right,” Ratchet agreed, relieved someone else seemed to have sense. “The Decepticons aren’t known for playing fair.” He held his hand out to Marissa, “May I?” 

She wasn’t entirely sure what he was asking, she instead looked over to Thundercracker with a questioning expression. He shrugged. 

“It’s alright. Ratchet won’t hurt you.” 

Marissa decided to take his word for it, and climbed up onto the mech’s outstretched hand. Ratchet brought her up to eye level, and caused her to jump in surprise when red light came from his optics. Her grip tightened nervously around his fingers, and didn’t loosen until the light faded. “She seems to be operating within normal observed human perimeters. No foreign bodies detected.” He concluded. “She does seem to be dehydrated.” 

“I have a name.” 

“You’re right.” Prime said, standing up and holding a finger out to her, “We never had proper introductions. I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. We all know Thundercracker here from eons of war, but it was rude of us to act that way towards you.” 

Marissa realized he was offering his finger in place of his hand to shake. She reached out and held it firmly, “Marissa Faireborn. Human cop. I’m a friend of Thundercracker.” A pause. “Can we stay here or not?” Waiting around for an answer wasn’t an option. If the Autobots said no, they needed to be on their way to find somewhere else. 

Prime leaned back into his chair, and snapped his mask back, surprising Marissa. She didn’t know he could do that. He looked thoughtful. “For now. I’ll allow a type of house arrest for you two while I discuss it further with my command. This is a very unusual request. I will get back to you within a day.” With that, he stood and motioned Prowl over. “See to it they get cleaned up and are comfortable.” And left. 

It already felt natural when Thundercracker reached over and gently took Marissa in his hand. She relaxed and laid back into his palm as he raised her higher, letting out a tired sigh. “A bath sounds great right about now.” Bending her head back so that she could see the seeker upside down, she wondered out loud, “Do Transformers bathe?” 

Before Thundercracker could answer, Prowl interjected with a snort. “Of course, we do. We’re not animals. Speaking of, you’re tracking mud everywhere. You’ll be going to the washracks before doing anything else.” He led the way out of the holding room, signaling them to follow. 

After walking a while, Prowl turned and held out his hand. “Human amenities are on the opposite side of the base. I’ll take you there, and Mirage here will lead Thundercracker the rest of the way to his side.” The air flickered beside them and revealed Mirage just leaning against the wall. Marissa felt the hair on the back of her neck raise up. 

“Can all of you do that?” Invisible mechs were a threat she didn’t think about. 

“No, just me. I’m a spy, so I’m equipped with cloaking device.” 

That was only slightly reassuring. 

Prowl brought her attention back to him, “Come on.” He offered his hand again. 

Thundercracker began to move his hand holding her over to him, but Marissa had one more thing to say before she left. “I'll see you soon, right?” 

“Absolutely.” 

Before he could go to the washracks, Thundercracker was taken to Ratchet’s medbay for repairs. He was surprised when he got there, thinking that he was going to have to do some self-repair to keep himself from leaking more energon. 

“Get on the table. You look terrible.” Ratchet wasted no time getting to the point. 

The seeker sat down, his wings reaching out past the edges of the berth, even with the bend in one of them. Ratchet nearly ran into them when he turned around. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a larger flight frame in here. I nearly forgot how much room you take up. Move your arm out of the way, I need to see that wound.” 

A quick examination and a few creative curses later, he looked up at Thundercracker with angry optics. “Who put this patch over a wound this bad? You need a complete rebuild on a few parts. Like the humans say, it’s like putting a bandaid on a broken leg.” 

“The only Decepticon on the Nemesis with any medical training is Hook.” 

“That hack?! No wonder all of you look like slag.” 

It took a while for Ratchet to repair him to the point he was satisfied. He didn’t have much armor that fit a seeker’s frame, but it still worked better than Hook’s handiwork. His wing was straightened out, and he no longer had to turn off his sensornet around his side to walk properly. Ratchet worked miracles, it seemed. 

“Thank you.” He murmured to the medic. He wasn’t above admitting Ratchet was good at his job. 

Ratchet seemed startled at his gratitude. “You’re welcome? Now, get out of my medbay. I need to clean up.” He must have commed Prowl, because the enforcer was at the door again, ready to lead Thundercracker to his room. 

“This is where you’ll be staying. All the basics: berth, washroom. We have a communication jammer activated, so if you need us, you’ll have to press this button here near the door.” 

“Where is Marissa?” 

“She has her own room.” 

“I need to see her.” 

“Funny, she said the same thing.” 

Before leaving, Prowl had confiscated her phone and gave her a temporary one to “entertain herself with” while she waited. Marissa had found his tone condescending, and had to fight the urge to childishly argue with him. 

“What’s wrong with my own phone?” She said as calmly as possible. 

“The Autobots don’t need you drawing attention to yourself anymore, or showing the world where our base is. Just a safety precaution. You will get your phone back after we update and safeguard it.” He left her at the doorway of her room without another word 

The shower had been amazing. The soap had burned on the cuts on her arms, but it just reminded her that she had survived so much. Marissa would have never imagined that helping a random man over half a year ago would have led her here. It had only been a few days since she had discovered aliens existed, and now she found herself bathing in their base. 

There was a basic change of clothes provided in her room. There was a shirt with a small logo of some horned beast on the corner of the chest, and black sweatpants. The cop had no idea what time it was, but it couldn’t be later than three in the afternoon. Everything was happening so fast. Her coffee probably still sat on her table back at her apartment, untouched. Unless the MECH agents had knocked it over. 

Marissa was exhausted, ready to collapse. The room that Prowl had dropped her off in had a nice bed that beckoned to her as soon as she exited the bathroom. She wasn’t sure when Thundercracker would be done with... whatever he was doing, so maybe a nap would be in order while she waited. 

Even though the bed was comfortable, her mind was restless, and sleep wasn’t coming to her. Thoughts raced everywhere, but mostly worried about Thundercracker. He wasn’t happy to be in the enemy base, and while Prime seemed to be welcoming enough, relaxing didn’t seem like an option at the moment. They hadn’t been given a solid answer, and being kicked to the curb could very well be in their future. Ratchet had mentioned a news report showing her and Thundercracker, and she’d be lying if she wasn’t curious what it entailed. Using the phone, she searched for the video. Sure enough, some passerby had recorded Thundercracker holding her and running off. 

“Well, that explains a lot. I’d probably freak out too if that’s all I saw.” 

It had been a couple of hours since she had separated from her friend, and it was getting a bit worrisome. Where was he? The Autobots might be torturing him for all she knew. If his own leader had torn up his waist, then what was the enemy leader capable of? Prime seemed like someone she wanted to trust, but he hadn’t done anything yet to warrant it. Marissa had to see if they were treating Thundercracker alright. 

There was a call button beside the door. When she pressed it, Prowl’s voice came through the speaker. “What is it?” 

“Where’s Thundercracker?” 

“Probably getting cleaned up, finally.” 

“Take me to him.” 

“You don’t have clearance to just walk around the base.” 

“Then take me there so I don’t have to walk.” 

Prowl had declared that while command was still deliberating their decision on them, the cop and the seeker had to stay separated. 

Marissa would have none of that. It just made her more suspicious and anxious that she wasn’t allowed to see him. 

Sneaking out of her room was pretty easy. There wasn’t a guard, and the door was unlocked. It looked like they assumed she was some scared woman that had been thrown into this situation, and would want to stay in her room where it was “safe.” 

It was a straight shot from her room to where the checkpoint started the Cybertronian side of the base. Marissa ran into a few people along the way, but they never stopped her or tried to talk to her. They were wearing the same logo on their shirts, so they must have assumed she belonged there. So far, so good. When she actually reached the checkpoint, Marissa was stopped by a couple of men in uniforms. “Identification and pass, please.” One asked. 

“I, uh, forgot it in my room?” 

They looked at each other, “We can’t let you pass then. Go get it and come back.” 

Undeterred, she tried another tactic. “Look, I just need to visit a friend. Sideswipe. I need to talk about something that happened today.” 

“Sideswipe? He’s on patrol last I heard. Not even here.” The guards were getting doubtful of her legitimacy now. Marissa was nearly resigned to leaving, when another man walked up behind the two she was talking to. 

“Hey, what’s up?” 

The guards whirled around and saluted the stranger. “Sir! We weren’t aware you were back yet!” 

The newcomer was a tall redhead, wearing a grey shirt with a bright red Autobot face on it. Weirdly, he seemed... blurry when he moved quickly. He looked over to Marissa. “Hey! Woman of the hour. How’s it going?” the voice sounded... 

“Sideswipe?” She guessed. 

“Right-o! Take five, guys. I’ll show her around.” 

The two guards took their leave. First question, “Why do you look like that?” 

“From what I’ve heard, you should be familiar with holoforms. This one isn’t as high tech as Thundercracker’s, though.” He demonstrated by touching her arm. It felt like static from an old television came through his hand. 

With a sigh, she decided to drop the charade. “You’re here to take me back to my room, aren’t you.” 

“Me? Nah. I just returned from patrol and heard my name mentioned while passing by. But I am curious why you’re here at the checkpoint.” 

The cop looked around and down the hallway. “Where are you actually?” 

“Around the corner. Why are you here?” 

Marissa fidgeted and looked away. Sideswipe had said he wasn’t going to turn her in, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t change his mind. She tried the honest approach, “I’m trying to visit Thundercracker.” 

“Really now. Need a ride there?” 

Her head snapped up. “You’d take me to his room, just like that? Couldn’t you get in trouble for that?” 

He shrugged, “Eh, I’ve done worse. I don’t think he’s gonna hurt you, and I’d rather take you there myself than let you wander around and get into more trouble. You’re obviously going to be a pain if left alone.” 

“Smart man.” 

A red Lamborghini rounded the corner a moment later, and the man in front of her disappeared. Sideswipe’s voice came from the car, “Get on in and we will be on our way.” 

Marissa tried not to think about how she was sitting in a transformer on the way there. Last time she was in one, she had been too distracted to really think about it. It didn’t take long to reach her destination at the speed Sideswipe was driving. “Ta-da! Thank you for choosing Swideswipe. You may now exit the vehicle.” The door popped open. “Let me get the door for you.” 

She stood in front of a large metal door, not unlike the blast door they encountered at MECH’s labs. The sound of metal moving against itself came from the car, and Sideswipe stood up. “And this door too.” He input a code, and the door opened. “It’ll lock behind you, so you’ll be in there until they come get you guys in the morning. Have fun!” He waved as he walked away. 

Marissa stood dumbfounded at her luck, then turned to face the now open door and walked in. “Thundercracker?” She called in. 

“Marissa?!” He popped his head around the corner of the room. “You’re here! I can’t believe they let you visit!” The seeker was elated she was here. 

“Yeah, about that...” 

“I can’t believe Sideswipe just... took you here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here. But you could get in a lot of trouble.” 

“I just wanted to check on you. You risked a lot coming to get me, the least I can do is make sure you’re OK in a place you didn’t even want to be in.” 

Thundercracker rubbed the side of his helm, “Thanks.” 

Marissa took a second to look him up and down. His paint job was a brilliant blue, and the red stripes on the wings were very eye catching. It looked like his waist had been properly repaired, and he was moving around a lot easier. “You clean up nicely.” She commented. 

“So do you. It feels so much better with the dirt out of my seams.” He brought them over to the berth and sat down. “This day has lasted forever.” He groaned. 

“It really has. Is this your bed?” 

“Yeah. I was just about to recharge when you came in. Repair takes a lot out of you, you know?” 

“I can imagine. I’m surprised they fixed you.” 

“Me too. Ratchet doesn’t seem like the kindest of mech’s at first, but he’s not one to just sit around when there’s something that needs to be done. Apparently, that includes runaway Decepticons.” 

Marissa laughed. It wasn’t that his comment was that funny, but the absurdity of this situation hit her pretty hard. “I’m so tired.” She said through her laughter. 

Thundercracker worried over her, he knew it wouldn’t be easy to adapt to all of this. “Hey, hey. Are you OK?” 

“Yeah. I’m fine. Or will be, I guess. It’s hard to believe that just a week ago we were casual neighbors, and now we’re on the run from two different kinds of people. It’s a lot.” 

He lifted her to his chest and hummed. “Maybe we should get some rest.” 

She nodded. “Do you mind if I sleep here?” 

“You don’t have much of a choice.” 

“No, I mean, with you.” 

Thundercracker smiled softly. “Of course, you can.”


	13. Staying Informed

“You allowed _who_ on the base?!” He wanted to check if his hearing was right. 

“Thundercracker of Vos.” 

When he heard that a Decepticon was on base, William Lennox was livid. Not only was this a major liability, this was apparently a high ranking one. Optimus had tried to broach the subject as gently as one could tell a commander that the enemy was on base, but it still hadn’t gone over well. 

Lennox tried to take deep breaths and put his face gently into his palms. He knew Decepticon high command based on the Autobot’s dossiers on them, so when he heard that Starscream’s right hand man was currently under house arrest, he thought he was losing his mind. Or at least Optimus was. He had never met the ‘Con personally, but what from what he read he didn’t want to. 

“How did he even find his way in here in the first place?” The Major was trying to understand his line of reasoning. “Did we have a break in? How did I miss this yesterday?” 

“This was not a break in. He came to us asking for sanctuary.” Optimus hesitated before admitting, “It seems that the Decepticon’s intelligence has more on us that we previously thought.” 

“Great. Just great. I hope it’s just him.” 

His partner Ironhide spoke up, “We installed communication jammers and other precautions as soon as he entered the base.” 

They were on their way to Thundercracker’s room to question him and find out more. Hopefully with a little repair and recharge, the seeker would be open to giving them more information. Optimus knew he had been withholding information because Marissa was there, but didn’t know what kind of information. Ratchet and Optimus had noticed that Thundercracker glazed over most of his time on the Nemesis. Both wondered how much about him Marissa really knew. 

Ironhide input the door code and walked in first. “Wake up, 'Con!” He grunted while giving the berth a kick. 

Thundercracker hadn’t been laying all the way down, but had his berth at a steep recline. At Ironhide’s kick, he jerked up in a sitting position. Everyone else jumped when a disgruntled yelp rang through the air. The seeker’s hand came up to his throat and adjusted the human that was dangling from the edge. 

“What the hell?” Marissa was pretty unhappy that her morning wakeup call had almost ended up putting on the floor. 

“What the hell?” From what Lennox understood, Marissa had her own room on the human side of the base. 

Optimus came over to stand beside Ironhide, who was just as shocked as everyone else. “Care to explain how you got here, Officer Faireborn?” 

The person in question groggily set herself right on Thundercracker’s shoulder, and patted him on the cheek. “Sorry about that.” She mumbled, ignoring Prime’s question for the time being. 

“It’s OK. I should have had my proximity sensors on to warn me.” He reached back and disconnected himself from the berth, then stood to face the Autobots, all while moving slowly to avoid jostling his passenger any more than he needed to. Both had blank and sleepy expressions. 

“Good morning, everyone.” Marissa waved. 

Thundercracker echoed her greeting. “Yes, good morning.” 

"Again, how did you get in here, Faireborn?” Ironhide wasn’t a patient mech, especially with suspicious Decepticons. 

“I had a really nice tour guide. Also, you need to tighten security. I just walked out of my room last night with no issues.” 

“Forgive us for thinking you would not be giving us any issues.” Ironhide shot a withering glare at Optimus and commed him. :Was she like this yesterday, too?: 

:Yes. I assumed she was just tired and confused. It seems like this is just how she is.: 

:You trust humans too easily. Even after all this time working with them.: 

Lennox felt like he was losing his mind. 

This mech was nothing he was expecting. From what he read, this was a ruthless brute, ready to tear anything apart that got in his way. Starscream wasn’t known for surrounding himself with useless people. Or so he’d been told. 

It had taken a minute to figure out what Marissa was even doing in Thundercracker’s room. Or in the position they had found her. 

“Well, I didn’t have a bed or blanket. I’ll admit I didn’t plan that far ahead. Turns out you guys are pretty warm all by yourselves. Especially over your chest.” 

Thundercracker interjected, “That’s because our sparks are in our chassis.” 

“I’m not clear what a spark is.” 

“Well that’s...” 

Ironhide wasn’t about to listen to an anatomy lesson. “Yes, yes. And?” 

Marissa continued her story. “After we unwound and chatted for a bit, I began to doze off. He offered to put me in his cockpit where there’s a seat, but being inside him made me a bit uncomfortable. I ended up just falling asleep against his neck. The cables that make up your guys’ necks are softer than the metal or your armor.” 

His eye was twitching, and Lennox again felt like he was going crazy. “So you just... wrapped yourself around his neck and slept like that? With him?” 

“Yeah.” 

For the second time that day, Lennox put his face into his hands and sighed. “You weren’t trying to run away?” 

Thundercracker snorted. “We just got here, asked for help, and you thought we were going to take off? I may not like it here, but we have nowhere to go. Did you think we were lying? Who even are you?” 

“Major William Lennox, I am commander on the human side of this base. Welcome to NEST. We came to ask a few more questions before any decisions were made. We” he gestured to himself, Prime, and Ironhide. “need to talk to you both separately.” 

They took Marissa to the interrogation room first. Ironhide stood outside the door to make sure Thundercracker didn’t try anything. In the room, Optimus stood to the side, and Lennox seated himself across from her. “So, I got briefed on what you told the others yesterday. Is there anything else you’d like to add now that we are alone?” 

“You mean you want me to tell you that I feel threatened by the monster jet in the other room.” The cop was not going to let him beat around the bush. 

“In so many words, yes. This is your opportunity to let us know what’s really going on.” 

Marissa sighed, and leaned forward on her elbows. “I told you everything I needed to yesterday.” 

Prime spoke up, “Let’s just say I’ve known the Decepticons for a long time. Thundercracker was part of the first wave of those that even called themselves Decepticons back in the day. We want to ensure that we are here on your own volition. How well do you know him?” 

She faltered, “I... know who Josh is.” 

“As similar as they might be, Thundercracker is not Josh. What has he told you about himself?” 

“Well, he’s told me that you guys are in a war that’s lasted a long time. That his people wanted change in the government and your guys opposed it.” 

“That not completely correct. I’m not going into our long history, but I do need you to know who it is that you have run away and put your life on the line with. Have you heard of Megatron?” 

Despite saying he didn’t want to go into it, Marissa listened to another long, drawn out story about their war. She stopped him several times to tell him that Thundercracker had already given her the what’s what, but Optimus wanted to make sure to impress upon her that the seeker in question was undoubtably part of the war. He tried to convince her how the Autobots were on the “right” side. “We believed we did not need to fight to overthrow the corrupt government. Megatron and Starscream simply became the catalyst that an already unstable people were waiting for. Cybertron is dying and abandoned now, destroyed by four million years of war.” 

She looked up at the last comment. “Four million...? You guys are that old?” 

“Most of us are older. After the war started, there were very few mecha forged.” 

That information made her reel. They were all older than the human race. They were alive before the Earth had even cooled down enough to support life. “That’s... damn.” 

“Look, I know it’s a lot to take in. But you need to concentrate. This Thundercracker is a war criminal, and very dangerous. He’s part of Decepticon Command.” Lennox needed her to understand their situation and relevant information. 

They all sat quietly for a moment while Marissa ingested the information given to her. What did this change? She knew he was a “bad guy” when he admitted it was his leader that tried to destroy her city, but she still wanted to go with him. When she had jumped out the window, she had seen the bodies in the streets of the MECH agents that had been fighting him. She was able to guess what the jet was capable of. In the end... 

“He still left.” 

“What?” 

“He still left. Admitted he was wrong, that his side was wrong. He came to get me out of a bad situation with a hole in his side.” Marissa looked up and stared Optimus in the eyes. “Why is he a war criminal, and you aren’t?” 

“I never said-” 

“If the Decepticons won the war, do you think they would just let you off? Or the other way around? All of us have our sins. I don’t condone anything your war has done, but don’t you for a second try to pretend you are more innocent than the others. People have still died either way.” She pressed further. “Thundercracker trusts you enough to come here to ask for help.” 

Marissa wasn’t the starry-eyed girl that was wonderstruck by aliens he thought she would be. When Lennox had heard that another human had been brought into base, he was sure he would find someone that was unaware of the consequences they had stumbled into. The government was hiding the Cybertronian life on Earth, and anyone who had hard evidence or couldn’t be convinced that it was fake had to be sworn to secrecy and brought to base. When Sam Witwicky was brought on, it was miserable trying to keep him quiet and hold him down. He had been one of the first humans to run into Cybertronian life, so he felt entitled to do whatever he wanted, much to everyone’s aggravation. 

“So, let me ask you again, are you going to let us stay, or not?” 

Maybe working with Marissa Faireborn wouldn’t be so bad. 

“At ease, Thundercracker.” Prime said as he sat down. “We just need to clear a few things up before we decide anything.” 

When they sat down with Thundercracker, his demeanor was much different from the sleepy mech they had encountered before. He was very aware of his surroundings, and his body language was defensive. The major knew this mech could be very dangerous if he wanted to be. He looked like a cornered animal. 

The seeker just eyed them and crossed his arms. “I told you everything yesterday.” 

“We both know that’s not true. You’re trying not to scare her. What really happened on the Nemesis? You’re one of the few that is around Megatron than most. He wouldn’t just attack you out of nowhere.” 

Lennox noted that while he remained in his closed posture, Thundercracker’s wings hitched up at the mention of Megatron. Not many of the Autobots on base had wings, but he had been around Silverbolt enough to realize the wings were a great way to express themselves. 

“Did Ratchet tell you the extent of the repairs needed?” 

“Yes. I would recognize the type of injury even by description.” The Prime was all too familiar with Megatron’s fusion cannon. 

Thundercracker looked away. “I’m going to start by saying I’m not turning Autobot. I didn’t do this to join you. I just finally got the push I needed to realize how far we had fallen.” He ground his teeth. “I’m doing this for Marissa.” 

Lennox and Prime shared a look. “You left the faction you have been fighting for four million years with, for a human woman?” The major wasn’t so sure this was the same Thundercracker the Autobots warned him about. 

“Not just for her, but spending my time as a human with her opened my optics to many issues I was trying to ignore. She made me realize it was time to move. Megatron has lost his way.” 

“So.” The Major had one question. “What do you want from us? I want to hear it from you.” 

“You don’t have to keep me around if you don’t want to. I want you to give Marissa a place to stay so MECH and the Decepticons won’t get her. I am sure Shockwave knows about Marissa, and might urge Megatron onwards. Especially since I stopped their missile.” 

“Why would Shockwave be the one to retaliate? Megatron was the one that injured you.” Optimus queried. 

“I have reason to believe that Shockwave is working with MECH.” The seeker relayed to them what he knew from his encounter in the labs and in Hook’s medbay. “Shockwave has to be the reason Megatron was able to build the missiles, and that MECH found me.” Just the thought of it was making Thundercracker visibly angry. 

It didn’t sound like a farfetched idea. It might be a good idea to have a vengeful seeker on their team. 

\----- 

“You can stay.” 

Prowl had been sent to tell them the deliberation with a sour look. “After a period of probation, we will be discussing if there is any way you can help on the base. As of now, you have basic passes to areas around the base, and limited communication. Here” the enforcer held out his hand to Marissa. “is your updated phone. And you,” He looked up to Thundercracker, “will need to visit Ratchet and Wheeljack. They will give you a comm system that will work only on base until we further notice.” 

Prowl left the two of them alone without another word. 

The two of them had been escorted to the first interrogation room they had come to base in to wait until the news. Marissa had immediately gotten up on Thundercracker’s shoulder. She was not about to allow any of these giants pretend she wasn’t there. 

Now that the news had come and gone, they were unsure what to do. 

“Well. We made it.” Marissa let out a short laugh, relieved. 

Thundercracker did not share all her relief. “Great, I can’t wait to be the only Decepticon in the Autobot base. It’s going to be fun.” 

“Yeah, especially a high ranking one.” 

“Ah. Guess I should have told you that.” 

“Why didn’t you?” She wasn’t angry, but she felt like it was an important detail to just forget. 

The seeker shrugged. “It honestly slipped my mind. Everyone already knows about it. You’re the first person I’ve met that hadn’t known in over four million years.” 

“I think it’s about time we got to know each other a little better.” 

He turned his head a little to look at her, and let a little smile take over his face. The red glow his optics gave her skin even in this bright room made him relax. Marissa had been an anchor for him as a human, it was his turn to help her in this strange new world she was thrown into. “I’ll tell you anything you require from me.” 

\----- 

Silas slammed his fist into the side of the console over and over again. “You promised me something to study! You promised results! I gave you what you wanted, and you couldn’t keep your end of the bargain!” 

“It is not my fault you let him escape.” A calm voice came over the line. “You should have better security and prepared for the unexpected. I did not bid him to wake up.” 

The MECH director pushed himself away from the console and began pacing. He wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste. “I saw your missile was thwarted. We have a common enemy now, it seems. If you still want me to continue to provide energy to you, you're going to help me get my subject back.” 

There was a pause from Shockwave. “You are correct. Megatron himself is particularly... interested in this mech. I know a few Decepticons that would love to get out and get some exercise. Give me a little time, and I will send them to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I argued with myself about how this chapter should go for a long time. Sorry this is a slow one.


	14. Settling In

Faireborn slipped on her fatigues and headed out. The dirty tents flapped in the harsh, hot wind as she walked by. The desert would be silent if not for that. She was scheduled for the 0600 patrol, and Sgt Miller would want her to get there before that. 

The base here in the middle of Afghanistan always had someone up walking around, of course, but she wasn’t usually the one up this early. Being a night owl, her preference was the night shift, so the swap to the early morning patrol was dragging her down. She chewed on the inside of her cheek to remind herself to look alive while waiting for Murphy to show up. Her friend was finishing up tinkering with her AK, and would be on her way in a little while. Faireborn wasn’t worried though, she couldn’t even see the patrol truck coming around the bend in the dunes just yet, so there was a little waiting to be done. 

She saluted when Sgt Miller came up, “Good morning, sir.” 

Her officer gave a short salute back, “Good morning and at ease. Thank you for being on time. I see Murphy is still behind?” 

“She told me she would be along shortly, sir.” 

Miller squinted at her. “What’s her excuse?” 

Faireborn didn’t have to answer, because Murphy ran up beside her at this moment, with a clean AK strapped to her back. “Here, sir! I apologize for being late.” 

“It is now 0558, you had two minutes. You know why you want to be early?” 

Both women replied in a monotone voice, “Because being early is on time and being on time is late.” 

All three of the soldiers’ eyes darted between each other. Sgt Miller’s mouth twitched with a ghost of a smile, “You two are lucky I like you.” 

Their patrol truck finally came around. They chatted with the previous patrol in an unofficial debrief. Nothing unusual had been observed, so it looked like business as usual. The three of them filled the truck up, and were on their way. 

While Miller drove, the women kept their eyes looking out the window, surveying the area for anything suspicious or out of place. Murphy and Faireborn talked a bit when going through long, empty patches of road. Murphy was excited about some news she got the night before. 

“My sister is engaged!” 

“Congrats. When did it happen?” 

“A few days ago. She called to ask me the maid of honor. I of course said yes, but I warned her it would be about seven more months before my tour is over. I’m not sure when she plans on having the wedding.” 

Faireborn grinned to herself. “Oh yeah, you have a while before you leave. You gonna miss me when I leave next month?” 

“I’ll miss you more than I miss having sand in my eyes.” Murphy snarked. “You better write me when you get back home.” 

Miller interrupted their talk, “Eyes up, ladies, we are headed into The Rubble. Make sure there’s no one around.” 

The Rubble was an old village that had been destroyed somehow long before they had set up camp there. It had several walls still standing, so it provided hiding places and cover for anyone who wanted to hurt them. Most of the people in the surrounding area were friendly or neutral, and they often traded or bought things off the soldiers, and vis versa. 

But not everyone took kindly to having foreign soldiers stationed in their homeland. Faireborn supposed she couldn’t blame them. She couldn’t wait to get back to the states. Maybe her mother had grown up a little and they could reconnect. They had parted ways on pretty bad terms. 

Faireborn hadn’t really thought of the consequences of joining a fucking war when she signed up at eighteen years old. She had just been trying to run. Nearly two tours later, she had matured enough to admit she probably should have considered other options. Not saying she regretted the Army, it had provided some great discipline and skills, but it was time to try and make a life for herself. 

No sound but the crunching of sand under the truck’s tires were present, and maybe the stray bird overhead. It didn’t look like anyone but the last patrol had been through here. One could even see the fresh tracks. 

It became obvious a moment later that even though they couldn’t see it, someone had visited the patrol route in between times. 

She didn’t remember the explosion. All she knew is that one moment she was looking around The Rubble, and the next she was looking up at the sky, vision blurry, ears ringing. The first thing Faireborn actually paid attention to was that there was no longer silence in the air. It sounded like the crackle of fire. She weakly lifted her head to look in the direction of the sound, and gasped painfully when she saw the patrol car on its side with smoke pouring out of the front. 

“Murphy! Sgt Miller!” She tried to call for them, but her throat wasn’t being cooperative. It felt like she had eaten sand for breakfast. 

The next thing she saw was Murphy laying a little ways away from her. It looked like she was breathing, but the blood running down her forehead was disconcerting. “Murphy!” She croaked out again, and began dragging herself over to her. Her arm collapsed when she tried to prop herself up on it. It was then Faireborn noticed her own blood covering her upper arm and how limply it was hanging. 

“I can’t... I can’t stop. I have to keep going.” Trying to give herself a pep talk wasn’t working. 

Faireborn made it over to Murphy right as her vison went from blurry to black. 

\----- 

Marissa woke up with burning lungs, sweat pouring down her face while grasping at her arm. It didn’t happen often anymore thanks to therapy, but when she did have nightmares, they were just as bad as the real thing. The feeling of the bullet the makeshift mine had thrown into her arm sometimes shot across her nerves in a phantom pain after waking up. 

It had been about two weeks since the Autobots had granted protection to them. Unfortunately, neither the Seeker or cop had done much besides hold yet more meetings thanks to Prowl’s request to “better integrate them.” Or as Marissa liked to call it, even more fucking questioning. In the most recent meeting they were in, it had devolved into a yelling match between her and Prowl about human law enforcement while Lennox looked on amused. The conversation hadn’t even started anywhere near that topic. 

Some mech named Jazz had finally come in and calmed Prowl down and announced that he didn’t need these meetings anymore if he had become comfortable enough to argue with them about superfluous things. Marissa swore that Prowl would have tossed the table to the ground if she and Lennox hadn’t been standing on it. 

After that near disaster, the NEST doctor had requested her presence. Dr Hill was trying to do a check up on her every few days. During their many escapes, there were some concerning bruises and bumps Marissa had gotten, and since she had never been to the hospital after being dragged to MECH, she wanted to be sure everything was healing properly and there was no long-term effect from any drugs. Before she headed over to the Doctor’s office, her phone began to buzz. 

“Faireborn here.” 

Dr Hill was calling. “Hey! Marissa. Ratchet has expressed interest in human physiology. So I’ve offered to have him here while I do your examination. That is, if you’re OK with it.” 

“I mean, I guess so. Are you going to be the one still doing the check up?” She wasn’t entirely sure she would be comfortable with an alien looking her over. 

“Oh yes, he will be strictly observing.” 

Marissa spun on her heel and began walking towards the Cybertronian part of the base. Most rotations of the guards knew her by now since she came by so often. The guards had stopped to ask her if she was OK several times, citing the news report that showed “her kidnapping.” It had taken some convincing, but no one believed they were friends until she had rounded the corner cupped in Thundercracker’s hand, laughing at something in their conversation. After that, she wasn’t bothered when passing through the checkpoint. 

Dr Hill was showing Ratchet a few common human medical reference charts when she walked in the room. “Hey, guys.” She called up to them. 

It was a little weird to have an alien mechanical person stare at her while Dr Hill was listening to her lungs. “Breathing’s good. OK, let’s check those bruises on your legs.” 

“So the blood gathers under the skin in an attempt to heal?” 

“Not to heal it, it just sits there until it’s reabsorbed into the body.” 

Marissa was staying quiet while the medical professionals were talking. Dr Hill would tell her if something was up. Listening to their jargon was making her sleepy, and she zoned out after a while, just staring into the distance. Every now and then she would move around when the doctor prodded her to do so. 

All three of them were a bit scared when suddenly a mech burst into the room shouting, “We need Marissa Faireborn to the training room, stat!” 

“What? Why?” Ratchet didn’t appreciate anyone barging into his medbay. 

“Thundercracker has caused a brawl!” 

Well then. At least this would get her nightmare off her mind.

Thundercracker hadn’t been having a field day in the base, just like he had suspected. While he knew there would be prejudice for many good reasons, Sideswipe had taken to following him around and chatting his audial off. At first, the seeker had been wary of his company, but he supposed his lack of trine made him desperate. It was pretty lonely staying in his room, after all. His only real complaint is that the lambo wouldn’t stop talking about himself. 

On this day while Marissa was in another one of Prowl’s stupid “meetings,” Sideswipe had come by his room and made himself comfortable on the small couch in the corner of Thundercracker’s room. 

“Uh, welcome back.” Thundercracker never really knew how to greet the intruder whenever he walked in. Usually unannounced too. 

The red mech swung his feet over the couch and got himself comfortable. “Hey, mind if I crash here for a few klicks? Sunstreaker kicked me out of our room because I knocked over his new paint when I was air boxing.” 

“Well, you’re already here.” He set the datapad he had been reading down and turned his frame towards Sideswipe. “Is there something you need?” 

“Nah. I would ask you for a spar, but you probably couldn’t handle me.” 

“Is that so.” 

“I mean, everyone knows that the best intelligence agents are me and Sunstreaker for a reason.” Sideswipe gave him the side eye and smirk that let him know he was goading him on. 

Thundercracker hadn’t realized how he was itching for some action until he was being challenged. He wasn’t about to let a little Autobot punk trash talk him. “What are you waiting for then? Let’s go down to the training room and settle this.” His wings twitched in anticipation. It was high time something happened here in this boring base. 

Sideswipe grinned and jumped out of his perch. “This way, seeker.” 

They both got looks from everyone on their way to the training room. Thundercracker had to tuck his wings back to avoid hitting others trying to pass by, and Sideswipe couldn’t help but take jabs at him, taunting him further and letting all know they were about to fight. By the time they got to their destination, a mob had gathered to watch. Excited murmuring was in the air. 

Sideswipe was eating the attention up. He held his hands up and smiled. Thundercracker was less enthused, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t fought in front of a crowd before. He and Skywarp regularly sparred while all the other seekers looked on. 

The opponents walked to the center of the room. Sideswipe was jumping on the tips of his pedes, loosening up his joints. Thundercracker squared his shoulders and punched a fist into the opposite hand. “You ready for this, minibot?” 

“Oh I was forged ready for this! I already took you down once, so let’s do it again.” 

“I was missing half my side! Even then it took two of you. So come on, let’s do this.” 

Both let out a fearsome battle cry before they charged at each other. Predictably, Sideswipe went for the wings, so the seeker responded by bending backwards and out of reach and sending a punch upwards into the lambo’s helm. He rolled, transformed, and began driving in circles around Thundercracker before turning back to root mode and jumping again. He caught him around the waist and pinned him to the ground. 

The rolled around on the floor, each trying get a finishing hold on the other. A sharp buck upwards dislodged Sideswipe and knocked him to the side. “Are you telling me it takes two of you to take me down?” Thundercracker roared jovially as he rose to his feet. 

“Graaaahhhh!” The red ‘Bot bared his teeth as he jumped forward. The blue jet swept his arm outwards in a powerful arc, Sideswipe surprised him by grabbing on to his arm. The momentum spun them around but only brought Thundercracker to his knees where he began to throw punches at Sideswipe’s midsection. Sideswipe responded by using his hands to push himself upwards while looking up and kicking Thundercracker back into the crowd. 

Specifically, into Sunstreaker, who had just arrived to see what all the commotion was about. 

Who also saw a Decepticon fighting his brother with no context. 

It all happened so fast. 

Sunstreaker hooked his arms under Thundercracker’s and snarled, “What do you think you’re doing, ‘Con? Back for seconds?” He looked over at Sideswipe. “I got him! Come finish him off!” 

A mech him tried to reason, “Hey, they’re just sparring. Let them finish.” 

Sunstreaker looked at the interrupter with murder in his optics and backhanded him. Thundercracker saw his opportunity to escape and broke free and ran forwards. Again, towards Sideswipe. Sunstreaker saw that as another attack and jumped forward to tear his wings off. At least, he would have if someone else hadn’t jumped in the way. A tussle started, and someone shouted, “Hey! Get off Hoist!” and jumped in. 

It broke down from there. Everyone jumped in to argue and ended up swinging. Sideswipe and Thundercracker just edged themselves away, a little at loss at what to do. 

“I... didn’t call him here if that’s what you were thinking.” Sideswipe assured. 

“It doesn’t matter now. We have a full on brawl.” An evil twinkle in his optics gleamed. “I got an idea. Turn off your audials.” 

Sideswipe’s optics widened in understanding and stood back. Thundercracker threw himself back into the chaos and put himself in the middle of the room. He partially transformed, his wings flipped and his thrusters began whistling. A mech beside him noticed what was going on, “Whoa whoa whoa!” and tried to scramble away, leaving the other mech he was fighting confused. That one turned to Thundercracker and had nearly the same reaction. “I’m out!” 

The sound of jet engines powering up filled the room, stalling and confusing the angry mob. Right before Thundercracker released his contained sonic boom, Ratchet’s voice sounded over the din, “Don’t you dare! There are humans in the vicinity!” The medic stood in the doorway with a disdainful look on his face and a dumbfounded Marissa in his left hand. 

Sideswipe shouldered his way in and tackled Thundercracker to the ground in case the seeker hadn’t heard the announcement. 

Everyone stilled. Ratchet had a way of drawing attention. Mostly out of respect, and little because he was the one that would be messing around in their internals next time they were in a battle. 

From the center of the room, laughter was heard. 

Thundercracker and Sideswipe were laying on their backs next to each other, blithely enjoying the result of what they had just intended to be just a simple practice round. Ratchet waded through all the mechs scattered about and stood over them. “What happened here?” 

“Honest to Primus, Ratchet, we just wanted to spar and blow off some energy.” Sideswipe managed through the chuckles. 

“I’ve been cooped up in this base with no flying privileges with nothing but Autobot history as my reading. What did you expect would happen?” The blue jet sat up and looked relaxed and happy. “This was the most fun I’ve had since coming here!” 

Ratchet grumbled something in Cybertronian. Marissa just looked relieved. “I honestly was afraid you were trying to get us thrown out.” 

Sunstreaker looked shell-shocked. He had come over behind Ratchet when Thundercracker was talking, and knelt down to Sideswipe. “You need to clean up your mess in our room.” Is all he had to say about the situation. 

“Alright, alright. I’m coming. Nice fighting, TC!” And started following his brother out. 

Thundercracker flinched at the nickname. He wasn’t so sure how he felt about Sideswipe calling him that. A few klicks later, a ping in his comm system showed up. Sideswipe was asking for permission to privately comm him. The seeker accepted without really thinking about it. It would be easier for him to tell him he was coming to hang out instead of just barging in, after all. 

Marissa spoke up, “Well, I’m not sure why they called for me. You can command a room just fine, Ratchet.” 

“Of course, I can. I’m CMO for more reasons than one.” He turned to Thundercracker. “Come on, let’s make sure nothing here aggravated anything on you that need healing.” and handed Marissa over to him. 

“Have fun?” She grinned up at him. “Make new friends?” 

Thundercracker thought about it. “You know, maybe I did.” He looked down to her. "I'd still label you at number one, though."

Marissa ran her hands over his fingers. "Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The girls are fighttttiiinnnngggg


	15. The Next Step

When Ayana first met Marissa, the latter hadn’t wanted anything to do with her. The new cop was cordial, but that was it. Didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to get to know any of her coworkers. Marissa Faireborn did her job and went home without doing any needless conversation. 

What drove Ayana on to attempt to conversate with her was the one talk they did have. They had been put on patrol together, and started talking about stupid people they had dealt with at work. The dumb excuses to the wild screaming. It turned out that Marissa didn’t dislike people, per se, she disliked idiots that wasted her time. After that was established, they became fast friends. 

It was at first just them complaining about things to each other, then actually chatting amicably, to finally enjoying each other’s company. Marissa was always her sarcastic, reasonable self, and Ayana was the upbeat yet calm one. Neither of them did anything crazier than get a little too drunk at one of the other’s apartments. 

So when Ayana got the call that Marissa’s apartment was under attack from some strange organization and that a giant robot had joined in, her first instinct was not that Marissa was involved. In fact, even when the news showed her getting grabbed by the robot and taken away, Ayana was sure it was meant to be a hostage situation. No one knew who either of the two parties involved were, so they had no choice but to wait for some sort of demands to be issued for her release. 

Ayana couldn’t help but freak out a little as time went on. Nothing was heard. Marissa was still missing, and it had taken a bit to realize, but Josh was missing too. The men that had swarmed the apartments were gone, somehow leaving no evidence to who they were. The robot made no more appearances, and the aircraft it had turned into was just... gone. 

It had been weeks. More like over a month. Ayana had tried focusing on work, looking for any traces of strangeness that might correlate with her friend’s kidnapping. One day, while digging around in Marissa’s files and information, she found pictures of the strange gun they had been mugged with. If her memory served her right, they never found out who this “MECH” was. 

But what if they had? Marissa hadn’t told her if she had discovered something, but what if she had gotten too close? It was convenient the two that were involved were the people that were no longer around. She began delving into her fellow police woman’s investigations on MECH. Everything on file or all the notes made were things she had already been told. If something had been uncovered, it would have to be after the last entry was made, but before the abduction. 

The search lead her to the courthouse. Ayana gave them a call and asked if they had seen Marissa Faireborn before she had disappeared. The secretary actually had, saying they had talked about a rude man before the cop had left. 

“Why would she talk about that?” It was unlike Marissa to gossip. 

“Mr. Ross pretty much accused her of taking his wallet. He works for a big organization that gets a lot of money from the Mayor, so he probably got it in his head he’s important.” 

Ayana’s mouth felt dry. “Do... do you know what organization he works for?” 

“I don’t remember. Some humanities people. Not too sure.” 

That sounded close enough to arouse suspicion. MECH probably felt Marissa was getting too close to home. Her head hurt. It was time to go home and sleep on this information, maybe that would clear her head and make more sense of things. 

Ayana turned the key in her door and walked in. She automatically reached for the lights, then froze when it stayed dark. Maybe a lightbulb would be out, but not the whole living room. Something was wrong. She began to slowly back out towards the door when it slammed shut. 

“Heya fleshie. We’ve been waiting all day for ya.” A deep but tinny voice came from behind her. 

A red light with a focused pair of dots rose up from behind her kitchen table, or where it should have been. In the darkness, it looked like it had been crushed. “Not a very welcoming host, are ya? We didn’t have nowhere to sit in here that could hold us.” Eyes, those red lights were eyes. Their placement suggested they belonged to a very, very tall man. Maybe nine or ten feet tall, because they were close to the ceiling. 

Two large hands grabbed Ayana by the shoulders and spun her around to face the first voice. A grinning, silver face with a ruby visor glowed over her. “We have a few questions. Or actually, our boss has a few questions. You’ll be coming with us.” 

\----- 

_CRACK._

Another punch landed successfully on the bag. Marissa wasn’t one to really work out after she left the army, but there wasn’t much to do as a civilian on a military base. Now that she was able to walk around and explore more, she had to find things to occupy herself with. Exercise was one of those things. It was better than the alternative. Someone had forwarded her a file titled, “The Autobot Code” that had taken up literally several terabytes of data with the attached note, 

“Optimus has informed me you will be staying with us on base for an extended amount time. While here, it would be wise for you to familiarize yourself with how we operate. I have attached our code with notes made by myself to help you with any questions. You are welcome to ask anything left unanswered. Yours truly, Ultra Magnus.” 

There was no way she was reading all of that. Marissa had looked at the forward (Also written by Ultra Magnus) and wanted to gag. It was worse than the book she had to read for her driving test. 

So working out it is. 

Thundercracker had also received an email from Ultra Magnus, but had a much more adverse reaction to it. He had stormed out of his room and demanded to speak to Optimus. There was much shouting about the Autobot forcing their ways on him and how he had already made it known he wasn’t interested. The seeker finally left when they agreed to relay to Ultra Magnus his position of joining the Autobots. He had been in a bad mood afterwards, and had gone to visit Marissa to alleviate it. 

Which was why he was currently sitting on the floor, holding the punching bag that Marissa was practicing on. He told her stories while she worked out. “And when Warp showed back up, Starscream wanted to tear out his warp drive! Devastator had one blue optic for a while afterwards until Hook found out and replaced it. We’re not even sure how he did it to this day.” 

Marissa wasn’t sure who any of these names were, but she still laughed. It sounded like he was human at times, except for the weird names. “What’s a warp drive?” 

“Skywarp is an outlier, like me. His sigma ability his teleportation, powered by a powerful engine we just call a warp drive. It’s part of the reason Starscream trined with us.” 

“Because you guys have superpowers?” 

“Ha! If only it were seen that way. No, he chose us because not only were we already fliers looked down on in our society, we had sigma abilities. Those were outlawed and we could have been arrested and... never come back at any time.” 

“Weren’t you born with them? How could they do that?” 

“They could and did. It’s why we joined the Decepticons in the first place.” Thundercracker got a nostalgic look on his face. “We were the best.” 

“You miss them.” She stopped and looked up, a little worried. 

He put down the bag. “I do. I won’t lie. It doesn't help I have a latent trine link. But I made my choice, and I refuse to feel guilty about it.” His hand came around and a large finger trailed down her back. Marissa half closed her eyes and leaned back into it. “I’m glad you’re here.” He murmured. 

She hummed. For an alien robot, he liked her a lot. He never said it outright, but the way he expressed himself around her made her more than a little suspicious about his feelings. Other mechs had given him weird looks when they were around each other. There was probably some foreign body language that she was just missing the queues on. Powerglide had come over one day, nudged Thundercracker and said he approved. Thundercracker had looked scandalized. Later he had said (without any malice) that he always knew Powerglide was a strange one. 

She had tried telling herself it was weird, and she couldn’t understand it. 

That was a lie. It made all too much sense that if Josh liked her, Thundercracker might like her too. The redhead would catch herself thinking about their movie night. It seemed so long ago. Hadn’t she told herself they would talk about it later? The more Thundercracker told her about his past, the more Josh’s strange quirks were explained. He didn’t have amnesia anymore, but the whole different, larger species thing was intimidating. Marissa was less than a sixth of Thundercracker’s size, so nothing could work out, right? 

It was a good thing there was a gym and punching bag to let her stress out on. Feelings were hard. 

“I think I’m done for the day.” She huffed. “You mind taking me back to my room?” 

Marissa lay over Thundercracker’s hand splayed out to cool herself off. It was honestly a little hard for him not to notice. Thanks to his temporary human physiology, he knew what was considered attractive to many humans. Marissa possessed many great qualities, and one of those was her build. Were she Cybertronian, he could see her having a fantastic set of struts and wheels. It didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate her for her human qualities, oh no. He would appreciate her no matter what she looked like. He had been smitten, but he was head over thrusters since she had slapped him and shot at Silas. He would gladly give his spark to this gutsy, amazing, beautiful woman if she asked for it. The seeker would have done so as Josh that night if she had wanted, but they both been unsure at the time. He had told himself he would talk to her about it when he felt braver, but now it felt like Ratchet’s wrench had been thrown between them. 

Right before they crossed the checkpoint, Bumblebee rounded the corner with a screech of his wheels. “Wait! Thundercracker! Faireborn!” He transformed and stumbled a little before reaching them. 

“We need you at the control center. Soundwave has contacted us, asking for you. We don’t plan on showing him that we have you here, but we think you should listen in.” 

“I don’t know why you think we would harbor a fleeing Decepticon.” Prowl was saying as they walked in discreetly. 

“Deduction: Thundercracker ran for more than one reason. Human admitted to be important to him to Megatron. Unable to locate after missile detonated. Conclusion: Thundercracker took human to Autobots for... protection.” That pause was disturbing. “Soundwave: Will not ask again. Show the traitor.” 

Thundercracker felt uncomfortable knowing that Marissa heard Soundwave reveal she was important to him. But there was no way that was the reason he was calling Autobot HQ. Prime and Prowl knew that too. “What do you expect us to do then, Soundwave?” Prime prodded. “Why call us and just expect we would bend to you demands if we did in fact have him here?” 

The camera on Soundwave moved down and zoomed in. Rumble and Frenzy stood beside a human laying on the ground. Marissa and Thundercracker knew who it was immediately. 

“Ayana!” 

Ironhide, who had been standing quietly to the side during this time, hissed at them to be quiet. His optics showed a worry that wasn’t there before the hostage reveal. 

“Demand: The traitor and the human woman will give themselves up to me, or the hostage will be tortured slowly.” Soundwave’s visor flashed dangerously. 

“Ew, boss, I don’t want to get organic fluids on my servos.” 

“Frenzy: Will remain quiet.” The blue mech brought the camera up to his face again. “Response: Expected within 48 Earth hours.” And the screen went black. 

As soon as the communication was cut, the shouting started. They wanted to know who Ayana was, and how she was connected to them. It really didn’t get them anywhere, and while Prime promised to do something, Marissa felt restless. Her friend was in grave danger if Soundwave was in charge of her life. The seeker and cop went back to his room and resigned to waiting. Unless... 

:Sideswipe, I need a favor.: 

:Man, I’m busy. You’re aware of the situation.: 

:Where is Ayana?: 

A beat of silence passed over the comm link. :I’m coming over. I don’t like this question.: 

When the red mech arrived, Marissa was ready to fight him. “You know where she is!” 

Sideswipe hesitated, confirming her accusations. He was in intelligence, of course, he would know. “When are you going to get her?” She demanded. 

“It’s not that simple, Soundwave is one of the big bads. It looks like he has his cassettes with him too. We are going to have to move carefully.” 

Before Marissa could argue more, Thundercracker spoke up, “But now, you have one thing to fight him that you didn’t have before.” 

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” 

Someone needed to tell Thundercracker he looked too much like Starscream when he was plotting. It was uncanny. 

“You have me.”


	16. The Lion’s Den

Rumble and Frenzy were bored. 

All the Cassetticons had been docked for who knows how long, with only Lazerbeak sent out periodically to scout some more. Even though Soundwave had to consume more rations due to holding all his Cassettes, it was still less than if they were all awake and active. When Soundwave had roused him from docking stasis, he had been ecstatic. It had been jarring for them when Rumble and Frenzy had been ejected and hit the floor, but they quickly recovered and began whooping and hollering after given their mission. 

It was simple, really. Sneak through a nearby human city, grab a certain human, and return to Soundwave at another meeting point. They didn’t really care who this human was or why they needed them, the twins were more excited they were getting sent on missions again. 

Just as soon as they got out, they were probably about to go back into stasis. Both of them had been surprised that Thundercracker of all mechs had defected, so they were hoping that more investigations or a good fight was in order when it was revealed to them that this human was meant to draw him out. Nothing personal, though. 

Rumble and Frenzy flanked the kidnapped human laying on the floor, left to guard while the boss went for “preparations.” It had been a joor or two, and they were getting antsy. So, that left them to their own devices, and it looked like the only thing to really do it annoy the human. 

“Hey! Quit playing dead.” Frenzy nudged the human with his pede. “I know yer up.” 

Rumble glared. “It thinks we’re stupid.” 

The human looked up and gave a returning glare. “’It’ is awake, and a she.” 

“Your name is She?” 

“No, I’m a female, a she, not an it. Let’s try a mutual respect approach, OK?” 

Rumble vented harshly. “Respect? For a squishy? I’d more respect a, uh, a...” 

“A Sharkticon!” Frenzy snickered. 

“Yeah! That! Anyway, we’re bored. Soundwave’s busy, so we need you to tell us what this is all about.” 

The “human female” sat back and crossed her legs, looking a little bewildered. “You mean, you’re not sure why you captured me?” 

“Look fleshie, we’re just the grunts. We get orders, we do them, we go home. We have our ways of finding out more, and right now, that way is you.” Rumble crossed his arms and tried to look intimidating. 

“Can... you at least call me Ayana instead of fleshie or squishy?” 

“No.” 

Ayana let out a deep sigh. “Alright. I think this has something to do with the giant flying robot that got my friend a few weeks ago. I thought she was being held hostage, but it sounds like she was on the run from you guys. Or maybe the other men that were there.” 

Rumble cocked his head. “So you’ve met one of us before?” 

She shook her head. “No, I just have had time to process all this in the last few weeks after seeing the one on the news report. I’m still pretty weirded out.” 

Frenzy grinned and knelt down. “Well, according to the boss, we have some time before your friends come to get you. Or not. So, let’s get to know each other a bit, eh?” 

\----- 

Sideswipe stumbled after Thundercracker and Marissa as the former marched towards the control room. “Look, we only have an approximation of where they are. We’re currently narrowing it down.” 

“I know Soundwave’s games!” The seeker threw an angry look over his wing, “He gave you 48 hours but no rendezvous or comm to contact. He’s making you eat up extra time trying to find him.” 

“We’ll get to him before time is up!” 

“I know you will, he left just enough evidence for you to. It will still take a while, and by then you’ll be just a bit more desperate than before. He trying to get you to panic and slip up.” 

Marissa had an arm wrapped around a shoulder pylon, and the other covering her face. She was trying to figure out how they had traced Ayana back to her. After all the lies by omission to the Autobots to protect her friend, it was the Decepticons that she should have been worried about. It was too obvious, really. 

“How could I have been so stupid.” It wasn’t a question she posed to herself. 

Her phone rang, it was Thundercracker. The cop glanced up at him, but he seemingly wasn’t paying attention to her. She pressed the green button and held it up to her ear. “Uh.” An eloquent way to answer the phone. 

“Hey, we’ll get her back.” He slowed his stride slightly when his voice came over the speaker. 

“Why did you call me? You’re right here.” 

“Sideswipe is also right here. I know you would prefer to talk to as few people as possible.” 

That’s really sweet. “Thanks, but we will need to talk to all of their command in a minute.” 

“Delaying the inevitable. You don’t need any more stress.” 

“We could have protected her.” 

“Maybe, I should have known Megatron would find some way to get to me.” A large hand came up to his shoulder and placed it beside her. “But we will get her back. We aren’t alone.” 

The control room was in front of them. Marissa gave the seeker a weak smile and hung up. Time to act like she knew what she was doing. 

“You can’t be serious.” Prowl stopped looking at the computer screen and stared at them. 

Thundercracker had announced he wanted to be a part of the rescue mission with Marissa seconding his opinion. 

“You’re on house arrest, and she’s a civilian. There’s no way either of you are coming with us.” Prowl continued. 

Thundercracker scowled at this comment. “I don’t know what information you have on Soundwave, but you have to know that while he holds no real ill will towards humanity, he _will _kill Ayana without hesitation if he suspects you came without at least me. In fact, you know he can read processors if you don’t guard yourself enough.”__

__“Wait, wait. That’s not just a myth?” Sideswipe looked taken aback._ _

__“Oh no, and Megatron uses him for interrogation where he can be as rough as he wants. He’s very adept at punishment for misbehavior on base as well.”_ _

__An unsettling quiet filled the room. Lennox chewed on the inside of his cheek as he thought of possibilities. “Can he detect human minds?”_ _

__“Not that I’m aware of. Your electrical impulses from your brains are much weaker than ours, so he might not.”_ _

__Lennox stood and addressed Prime, “Then I think it would be in our best interest to have a small human team accompany you.”_ _

__Optimus held a hand over his chin, deep in thought. “We can’t let this go public. If humans go with us, it will be a very small team. We don’t need your government blaming us for any casualties. They’re already trying to pin Decepticon attacks on us.”_ _

__The major’s face twisted in displeasure. “This is all we needed. Most of the guys on base only have interacted casually with the Autobots.”_ _

__Marissa stepped forward. “Then take me. I have military training; I have some experience with Cybertronians. I’ll sign anything you need me to, just get me out there.”_ _

__“Correction, you have experience with me.”_ _

__Everyone turned to Thundercracker. “I think you should sit this one out, Marissa.” He continued._ _

__Her mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me.”_ _

__“No, you should stay here. He may have requested you and me, but he really just wants me. There’s no reason for you to come.”_ _

__Marissa ran her fingers through her red hair in aggravation. After all this...? “Prime.” She spun on her heel to face the leader and pointed to a room to the side. “Is that room over there empty?”_ _

__“...Yes...” He slowly answered._ _

__“Will you excuse us?” Motioning Thundercracker over, she sat down roughly on his hand, crossed her arms, and they walked into the room where he closed the door behind them._ _

__“Set me down on that table.” He complied. Marissa took a few deep breaths and told herself not to yell. “What are you doing?”_ _

__“I don’t-”_ _

__“Stop. Don’t argue. You trusted me to jump out of a window. You saw me shoot at MECH agents when we were running from them in the labs. I disarmed a MECH agent that tried to mug us! Now that Ayana needs help, you tell me to stay here. Why?” Her hands were gesticulating wildly with each point she made._ _

__“You don’t know Soundwave! I do! If he catches you, he will either hurt you himself, or give you over to Megatron without a second thought!” Thundercracker ran a hand down his face. “Both of us don’t need to die!”_ _

__“You’re that unsure of yourself? I thought you were part of command! You said you were the best!” She was yelling, but she didn’t care now._ _

__“I don’t want Ayana or you hurt!”_ _

__“And I don’t want you to act the martyr!”_ _

__They stopped. Marissa was breathing hard, and Thundercracker’s systems were giving off a heated whine. A minute passed, and both composed themselves a little. The seeker spoke first, “I know you can take care of yourself.” He got on his knees in front of the table so he could be at eye level with her. “Please don’t ask to come. Prime will try to insist you stay behind, but he will allow it. I just... the war has taken so much. I can’t lose you if I frag this mission up too.”_ _

__Footsteps gave a slight echo on the metal table as Marissa walked closer. “Thank you for caring. For Ayana. For me. You don’t have to do this yourself. Let me help. She’s my friend, and I feel responsible.”_ _

__He let out a long vent. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”_ _

__“Only if you promise me the same.”_ _

__Thundercracker gave a smirk. “That means no jumping out windows or turning on mysterious robots for you.”_ _

__Marissa responded by throwing her arms around his neck as far as she could in a hug. “I can at least do that.” He closed his own arms around her and held the position for a little while. Thundercracker could hope that they would all be OK._ _

__

__\-----_ _

__

__As predicted, Prime allowed Marissa to join in on the mission. Her and Lennox were to be the only humans joining them. It had taken Blaster and Prowl nearly sixteen hours, but they were able to pinpoint Soundwave’s location as an old warehouse privately owned by some farmer in the middle of nowhere. They all hung onto the possibility that the farmer was nowhere near the warehouse. Many preparations later, Marissa was riding with Lennox inside Ironhide’s truck form on their way to the specified point. It felt odd being in fatigues again, but it also was comforting that she was all decked out with light armor and weapons as well. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker drove on either side, and Thundercracker flew low overhead._ _

__“OK! When Ironhide transforms, you have to curl and roll forwards. His seats flip upside down when he turns to root mode, and that’s the easiest way to land on your feet.” Lennox was explaining a few last-minute things to her before they arrived. “The warehouse has an electrical room in the back that we can come in while the mechs confront Soundwave.”_ _

__“What about the smaller ones?”_ _

__“That’s Rumble and Frenzy. I met them once a while ago. Easily distracted, but heavy hitters. They might be smaller, but they are every bit as dangerous as the others. These rifles we have are designed with Cybertronians in mind, so we will be fine.”_ _

__“Lennox, Faireborn, we’re approaching our destination.” Ironhide’s voice came from the cab._ _

__“Alright. Here we go.”_ _

__All four of the mechs transformed simultaneously while Lennox and Marissa rolled out, ran between Ironhide’s legs and went around the building. Right before they rounded the corner, Marissa saw Thundercracker watching her with a tight expression. She gave him a thumbs up and continued following Lennox._ _

__The inside was very dim. The clammy air made Marissa’s skin crawl. “Do we know where Ayana is being held?”_ _

__“All we know is that she’s somewhere in here. So keep your eyes peeled.”_ _

__“Yes, I will stare into the darkness as hard as I can.”_ _

__He turned around, she could just see the squint he gave her. “You know, for a solider, you sure aren’t paying much respect to an officer.”_ _

__She beamed at him sarcastically, “But sir, I’m just a civilian.”_ _

__“Well, maybe after this it’s time to change that.”_ _

__The team quieted down as they moved further into the warehouse. There were a few scarce lights on in random areas that helped them keep track of where they were. Haybales were scattered around, with more loose hay on the floor, so their footsteps were mercifully muted as the moved closer. They kept an eye out for any side rooms or the guarding Cassettes. With any luck, they could get Ayana out of there before all hell broke loose._ _

__“Duck!” Lennox dove behind a nearby bale while Marissa followed suit._ _

__Voices came from the front of the warehouse. Sounded like the first group had met up with Soundwave. They couldn’t make out what was being said, but they could tell that Soundwave was talking. “He really sounds like that? I thought that was the computer interference or something.” Marissa commented._ _

__“Yeah, that’s one creepy ass voice.” Lennox agreed._ _

__“He started doing that after the war. Not too sure why.”_ _

__Both soldiers jumped away from whoever made the third comment. How had someone sneaked up on them? They swung around with their rifles pointing at the newcomer._ _

__A bluish-purple mech stood there, hands on his hips, lazy expression on his face. Totally unfazed looking down the barrel of their guns. “Heya. How’s it going?”_ _

__Marissa knew that the Cassettes were short, but it was still weird since she was used to mech Thundercracker’s size. “Going good.” She replied evenly. “You must be... Rumble?”_ _

__His visor brightened with offence, “No! Ugh, I’m Frenzy. How come Soundwave only gets it right?”_ _

__“It’s ‘cause of that bright idea you had all those vorns ago to trade color schemes for a mission!” They saw a second mech push a haybale against the wall and join him, identical except for the red coloration. There was probably a room behind the bale he was pushing._ _

__Rumble and Frenzy stared at Marissa and Lennox, sizing them up. “We were told you might be coming.” Rumble took a step forward._ _

__“And we’re going to enjoy this as long as we can before we’re forced back into stasis.” Frenzy added._ _

__God damn it. So much for stealth._ _

__

__Ironhide had a stong grip on Thundercracker’s arm, using it to push him roughly ahead towards the warehouse. The plan was to act the prisoner as long as possible to avert any attention the humans might being if they bumped into the Cassetticons._ _

__When the four mechs stepped through the large warehouse door, Soundwave was there to greet them, surrounded by consoles and communication systems jury rigged from the power lines. One of the wires was hooked up to a cube, synthesizing energon slowly. It was half full. Clearly, he had set up this base prepared for the long haul._ _

__Ironhide spoke up first, “Here he is, Soundwave. We Autobots escorted him here to oversee the exchange.”_ _

__“He decided to come along peacefully, for once.” Sunsteaker snarked._ _

__Soundwave looked the seeker up and down, still not commenting on anything. All the Autobots and the ‘Con were praying to all the Guiding Hand their prototype brainwave dampeners would help hide their thoughts from him. Wheeljack had thrown it together last minute, but since there was no one like Soundwave, there was no way to test it until they were in front of him._ _

__Finally, “Observation: The human female is not with you.”_ _

__“No, you can’t honestly tell me Megatron wants her. He wants me.”_ _

__“Megatron: unaware of the reason of this outing.”_ _

__The seeker’s engine stuttered. “What? Why are you here?”_ _

__“Explanation: unnecessary. Humoring: Thundercracker and the human female will be exchanged for energy. Megatron will be pleased with the defector’s offlining and provided energy.” His visor flashed. “Correction: _Most _of Thundercracker will be exchanged. Megatron will want proof of non-functioning.”___ _

____All the Mechs in the room felt like the energon in their lines had frozen. Somehow, without providing graphic detail, the whole ordeal came across as horrific. There was no further explanation, but they could guess who had asked Soundwave to take care of this._ _ _ _

____“Where’s Shockwave?” The seeker snarled._ _ _ _

____“Shockwave: Irrelevant for the moment. If the human female has not accompanied you, then it seems the other’s life is forfeit.”_ _ _ _

____Soundwave’s attention was drawn to gunshots that were heard from the back of the warehouse, followed by an earth-shaking boom and a high-pitched whine. Rumble and Frenzy had drawn their weapons._ _ _ _

____A strange noise came from Soundwave, only Thundercracker recognized it as the rare laugh the Communications Officer had. “Thundercracker: Full of surprises. You all thought you could leave unscathed.” He rotated slowly towards them, a low buzzing coming from the speakers on his shoulders. “Suggestion: Surrender.”_ _ _ _

____Sideswipe wasn’t about to let a threat scare him away. “I don’t think so. What makes you think you can take all four of us?”_ _ _ _

____The eerie laugh filled the room again._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____“Soundwave: Superior.”_ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. How cliche.  
> BUT SOUNDWAVE IS SUPERIOR.


	17. The Past Will Always Catch Up To You

Lennox and Marissa’s first shots had hit the Cassetticons somewhere in the chest, but Cybertronians were hard to take down. Soundwave wouldn’t send them out without making sure their armor was intact. The ‘Cons had jumped into action, arms transforming as they laughed manically. Frenzy brought out these intimidating looking drills while Rumble began swinging large piledrivers. 

Marissa rolled to the side as Rumble advanced as his piledrivers slammed into the area she was just standing. The foundation of the warehouse cracked underneath the immense power and pressure he had in his arms, sending spiderwebs of fractures all over the floor. She knew if she was hit, Rumble’s weapons would probably liquify her bones, so dodging was the most important thing to do right now. Moving quickly with a large rifle in her hands was giving her trouble, but it was her only defense. 

Rumble seemed to be enjoying more and more the longer this went on. He also kept quipping at her. “Hey, you’re pretty fast!” 

“Yeah, well, you're keeping me on my toes.” 

“Aw, thanks!” 

Frenzy had zeroed in on Lennox, bouncing around and teasing the Major with his screaming drills. It was obvious both of the Cassettes weren’t taking this fight too seriously, and toying with them. Marissa already wasn’t too sure how long they were going to be able to keep this up. 

Suddenly, the Cassetticons stopped. The two humans stopped as well, but mostly out of morbid curiosity out of what could possibly draw their attention away from the fight. 

Rumble’s visor glinted excitedly. “The boss has joined in.” 

Then they felt it. 

The entire building was vibrating. 

Sideswipe hit the floor in record time. He had immediately decided to charge Soundwave, but had been blasted back when the speakers were turned to full power. Sunstreaker ran around behind and tried to get into a position to strike him while Ironhide attempted to make it through the next sound blast. Soundwave changed frequency, and as soon as both mechs got closer, they stopped and grabbed their helms as though it was about to burst open. 

Wings held back to avoid as much of Soundwave’s attacks as possible, Thundercracker reached and grabbed Ironhide and pulled him back out of range. The Autobot fell back onto the ground, looking frazzled. “Get Sunstreaker.” The seeker commanded. 

When Thundercracker started moving, Soundwave swiveled around, pointing his cannon at him. “Halt.” The brain bending frequency was still in effect, so he knew the Communications Officer wouldn’t shoot immediately to avoid the twins from jumping him. Thankfully, he couldn't have two frequencies going at once. It was still going to be difficult to get close enough to land a hit, and his armor was one of the best because he was part of Decepticon Command. 

It was going to be a long, drawn out battle to wear him down. 

Over Soundwave’s shoulder, Thundercracker saw Ironhide helping Sunstreaker up, and Sideswipe had recovered and was using the wall to brace himself. He pinged all of them over their short-range comms. 

:You can’t just rush him.: 

:Well, I know that now.: Sideswipe snipped back. 

:Maybe you shouldn’t just _OH FRAG_ : The cannon pointed at Thundercracker went off and knocked him against the wall. The twins threw themselves at Soundwave, thinking he was distracted, but he simply turned and in one smooth motion, backhanded one across the face, into the other and floored them yet again. “Soundwave: Can hear you.” 

They weren’t sure that meant he could hear their footsteps or their thoughts, either way they needed a strategy. 

Strategy for Ironhide meant a lot of shooting. His arm cannons were brought out and began firing wildly. A new frequency came from the speakers, and it slowed the bullets just enough that they either just dented or bounced harmlessly off his armor. 

Thundercracker’s helm ached from the shot he just received, but he still told Ironhide, :Lasers, you have to use lasers.: 

Ironhide changed his weaponry. His lasers weren’t as strong as his cannons, but they would have to do. He advanced on Soundwave as they powered up, and strangely, Soundwave backed up slowly in response. The twins were recovering from the last hit, but realized Soundwave was backing right up to them, they grabbed what appeared to be long metal poles on the ground and tried to hit the speakers. Soundwave simply crouched down and grabbed the poles from them without even looking or turning around. Ironhide began shooting, and hit Soundwave a few times. The ‘Con twisted the pipes in his hands so that both were placed over each of the twin’s sparks. “Repeat: Halt.” 

Ironhide pointed his gun to the ceiling, “Alright, I’ve stopped.” 

Thundercracker had activated his null rays, but couldn’t quite get them up to full power. :I thought you took the restrictions off my null rays!: 

:Most of them.: Ironhide replied sheepishly. 

:Fantastic.: 

Thundercracker raised his arms, deigning to shoot anyway. One shot hit Soundwave in the head, loosening his grip on the poles and letting the twins get away. Even with his expressionless visor and mask, his surprise was clear. He hadn’t been expecting that. Everyone noticed. 

:Great, so Wheeljack’s invention only works for you.: The yellow Autobot commed sourly. 

:Why don’t you just go ahead and say that out loud, you bolthead.: His twin hit him over the head with his servo. 

Before they could say anything else, another blast from the speakers had them struggling to remain standing. It stopped only for a short time for Soundwave to throw the pipe still in his hand like a javelin at Thundercracker. It barely missed and landed right over his shoulder. 

“Never was one much for swords.” He commented to himself. “Those were more Starscream’s thing. But...” He pulled the pipe out of the wall, let out a battle cry and swung at Soundwave’s head. A thick arm came up and stopped it just in time, and the other hand grabbed him around the throat. A powerful blast came from the speakers for only a moment before more lasers were shot from Ironhide’s direction. Soundwave gave Thundercracker a kick in the chassis, throwing him to the other side of the warehouse. 

The gunfire was no comfort. Rumble and Frenzy were sure 'her friends’ were coming for her, but Ayana wasn’t sure who would. Definitely not Marissa, that would be preposterous. Obviously though, someone had arrived. The Cassettes had excitedly stood, told her to stay put, and walked out. 

They had been poking and prodding her nearly the whole time because they hadn’t been this close to a human without orders to kill it. That revelation gave her the warm and fuzzies like no other. 

Rumble had been so excited that he hadn’t tied her back up properly before following Frenzy out the door. Ayana shimmied out of her bindings, and opened the door, planning to escape and avoid being helpless in the middle of a firefight. 

And there was something blocking the door. A giant haybale. 

“Guess he wasn’t that sloppy after all.” 

The bale was too heavy to move, so she resorted to tearing the haybale apart with her hands. It hurt after a while, the dry grass cut into her hands and scratched her arms, but she wasn’t about to stand around and wait for them to come back. 

The fight raged on outside the room. Noises ranging from gunshots to earth shattering crashes came from everywhere. What was going on out there? 

Finally, Ayana had torn enough hay out of the way to squeeze through. It took a second to gather her bearings because of how much darker it was out here, but her eyes widened when she saw a familiar face dancing around Rumble. “Marissa?!” 

Rumble was the first to respond, whipping his head around, “Hey! Get back in the room!” 

The butt of a rifle was shoved up under his chin, causing him to lose his balance for a moment and let Marissa by. “Ayana! You’re OK!” She grabbed her by the arms and gave her a relieved shake. 

“Ow, yes, I’m alive. _But what are you doing here?!”_

“We’re here to get you out!” 

“Who is we?” 

The two women were interrupted when a large, winged figure flew by and hit the wall. It slid down to sitting position. It was another one of...! 

“There’s more of them! We have to get out!” Ayana began to tug on Marissa. 

“No wait, he’s on our side!” 

The head of the blue robot lolled over to them, and its’ eyes literally brightened when it saw them. “Ooohh Primush, sthorry to drop in on you, ladysh.” The voice that came out sounded slurred, like he had been drinking. “Hi, Ayana.” 

Marissa ran over to him, “You’re talking funny, what happened?” 

The giant rubbed at his throat. “Got a bad hit to’the voice boxth witt one of Soundwave’s speshel frequenthies. It’ll fixth itself thoon.” He attempted to adjust it by hitting himself at the top of his chest a couple of times. “Is this better?” He asked. It sounded improved, but there was a weird static sound behind it. 

“Close enough.” Marissa gave out a short, amused sound. Ayana just continued looking back and forth between them, disbelief rendering her mute. 

Meanwhile, Rumble had recovered, and Frenzy had abandoned Lennox to come over and stare. “Heeeyyyy it’s TC!” The Cassettes sauntered on over. “We heard you left us. How’s that working out for you?” 

Marissa put Ayana behind her, and backed them up against Thundercracker’s legs when the Cassettes spoke up. “We’re getting you out of here. Follow me.” 

The blue seeker answered the other ‘Con’s questions. “I don’t know, how’s it feel to be awake for the first time in a year?” 

Rumble and Frenzy screwed up their faces angrily. “You just left because you’re a coward!” Frenzy pointed accusingly. 

“Believe what you want to. I don’t have to explain myself to you.” 

Lennox joined Marissa and Ayana. “Hey, good to meet you. I’m Major Lennox, let’s get out of here.” 

“Best introduction I’ve ever heard. Let’s go.” The freed hostage was ready to leave. 

In single file with Ayana in the middle, they moved towards the door. Now that they weren’t concentrating on not getting drilled or hammered, they saw violent lights coming from the front end of the warehouse. Soundwave was certainly giving the Autobots a run for their money. Every now and then the walls would shake when Soundwave attacked with his speakers. 

Considering their positions, they got outside relatively easily. Everyone inside was distracted by the other. 

“OK, we just need to hunker down and wait for the big guys to finish up.” The major tried to lead them over to some tall grass out of the way. 

Marissa stopped. “I’m going back in.” 

“What? Why? Marissa, I don’t mean to downplay your skills, but those are giant fucking robots throwing down in there. No.” Her friend wasn’t about to let her be stupid. 

The redhead hesitated, but calmly and confidently laid a hand on Ayana’s shoulder. “Maybe so, but... I can’t leave Thundercracker in there. The big idiot might need me to tell him what to do.” Then to Lennox, “I’ll be back when I can.” 

“This is a bad idea, Faireborn.” 

“When have I had good ideas, recently?” She smirked. 

The Cassettes were more annoying than he remembered, but Thundercracker was still having to spend time staving them off. 

“Get off me, you pests!” He grabbed Frenzy and got a drill to the palm of his servo. It just made him angrier. At least Marissa and the others had made it out, he didn’t worry about having to step on them. Thundercracker picked Rumble up this time and squeezed. “I’m done here.” Rumble made a rough staticky noise and went limp. He wasn’t dead, but he wouldn’t be getting up for a while. Frenzy began screaming, “Let go of him you traitor!” 

“You can have him.” The force of the throw behind Rumble’s body was enough to knock one of Frenzy’s legs out of socket when he was hit. 

His visor was flickering when he shouted, “Boss!” 

The ambient vibrating of the walls stopped for a moment, then started again more violently. Soundwave was coming. 

The seeker braced himself for the oncoming blast that was sure to rip through him, but it wasn’t enough. His right wing began sparking as it was forced farther back than it was meant to. 

:Where are you?!: He commed the Autobots. 

:I’m the only one conscious right now. He was about to put me out of the game when he heard his Cassette call for him.” That was Sideswipe. 

:Are the others alive?: 

:Yeah, but not in a good way. We need to get out of here.: 

Soundwave was too close now. He might not be able to hear Thundercracker’s side of the conversation, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t glean what was going to happen contextually from Sideswipe. Hopefully he wasn’t thinking too hard about the Autobot. He raised his null rays as quickly as he could and shot a few rounds at the advancing enemy. It was clear from his reflexes that he was a bit worn down and also distracted by the injured Cassettes, because the null rays hit him dead on. He stumbled backwards a bit. “Thundercracker: persistent. It would be wise not to make me more angry.” 

He was about to answer when movement caught his eye. Behind Soundwave, Marissa was in a small loft sneaking closer to him. How did she get up there? _Why_ was she up there? 

Thundercracker tried to keep his optics on Soundwave so he didn’t give away her position. 

:Sideswipe, get over here. Don’t answer me, just do it.: 

He kept talking to Soundwave to better distract him. “Why are you doing this? I know it had to be you that gave away my position to Shockwave and MECH.” 

“Thundercracker: should understand furthering The Cause. You were weak, already doubting. Megatron let me do as I see fit, and I did.” 

Marissa had picked up one of those metal pipes. Oh no… 

“How do you do it? Listening to us all? Policing our thoughts?” 

Something hit a nerve. “Enough!” The processor stopping frequency hit him with such force it brought him to his knees. He was barely aware that the screaming he heard was him. 

Then it was over. Mostly. He could still feel it, but it was quickly getting lower. The seeker looked up and saw the reason; Marissa had jumped and speared Soundwave through the neck. Energon was everywhere, and she looked like she was about to pass out. The sound from the speakers was likely too strong for her to be that close, even if they were much quieter. Marissa wrenched the pipe in once more, before finally succumbing. She began to fall. 

A strangled, desperate noise came from Thundercracker as he dove for her, barely catching her before she hit the ground. 

“Get out of the way!” Sideswipe yelled from behind. 

As he rolled, Thundercracker saw the half cube of Energon from Soundwave’s setup fly towards said mech. Right before it hit him, Sideswipe shot it, causing a brilliant explosion in Soundwave’s face. 

The Decepticon dropped to the floor, visor cracked and mask scorched. He didn’t move anymore. 

Help was on the way. Sideswipe had contacted HQ and told them they needed assistance, and fast. Ironhide and Sunstreaker were awake, but needed medical attention. Lennox and Ayana tried to see if there was anything they could do to help Marissa, but it looked like they would have to wait for a doctor. 

Soundwave and the Cassetticons were in stasis cuffs, they were to be taken back to base as prisoners. 

Thundercracker was beside himself, worried for the woman who had saved him. He had no idea how he could help. Flying wasn’t an option because of the damage his wing sustained in the fight. Currently, he was sitting beside the humans in case there was something he could do. 

“Hey.” 

He looked up from his sulk. “Hi, Ayana.” 

“So how do you know me? Mission brief? You sure seemed to recognize me pretty fast.” 

Rubbing the back of his neck, he prepared to confuse her. “Yeah, we’ve actually met before.” 

“I’d think I’d remember that.” 

“Well, about that…” 

_VOP_

He stood, recognizing the sound of Skywarp teleporting. The black and purple jet was very close with his arms crossed. They stared at each other for a second before Skywarp spoke. 

“We need to talk.” 

He gripped Thundercracker’s arm, and was gone just as quickly as he came. 

It left Ayana speechless. Footsteps came up to her, “Was that Skywarp? Where’s Thundercracker?” 

She looked up at the startled red mech, “Your guess is as good as mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finding out how hard it is to translate a fight scene that takes even just a few minutes into words. There's a lot going on.


	18. Expectations and Reality are Often Different

Dr Hill had been busy ever since the party that had been sent out to meet Soundwave had returned. Fortunately, they had returned successful. Unfortunately, they had badly injured mechs and Marissa was out cold. Ayana had bruises all over her from the rough handling Rumble and Frenzy subjected her to, but nothing serious. The worst part was that Thundercracker was missing, supposedly having run off with someone he knew. 

When he had heard that Marissa had been in range of one of Soundwave’s most powerful frequencies, he immediately checked out her ears. Both eardrums had burst, explaining the blood and clear fluid dripping down her neck. They were in tatters, he knew he would have to perform surgery if she ever wanted to hear again. Even so, she would probably experience some hearing loss. 

It wasn’t his specialty, but he knew the procedure. Dr Hill had to borrow some of her own skin tissue and reconstruct her inner ear. That should do it. A few weeks and she would be fine. Antibiotics and painkillers would help her along. 

Now she just needed to wake up. Humans weren’t meant to be that close to a sound so powerful. Dr Hill didn’t think she would be asleep too long, but he couldn’t be too sure. 

When he exited her room, he was met with Ayana, demanding to hear about Marissa’s condition. “Well? Will she wake up any time soon?” 

“She’s fine. I repaired her ears, and put her on some medication to ward off any infection. I think she will wake up when the anesthetic wears off, but it might be in her best interest to stay asleep for a bit longer. She’s going to have a killer headache to say the least.” 

Cursing could be heard from Ratchet’s medbay as they walked over. Dr Hill wanted to give Lennox the update on Marissa, and currently he and Ironhide were talking with Prime while the latter got repaired. 

Ironhide yowled when Ratchet jerked a twisted gear out of his arm, and Lennox and Prime ignored it in favor of continuing the discussion. “What will we be doing with Soundwave?” 

“Him and his Cassetticons will be put in our holding cells. Wheeljack has already disabled their weapons, so we will be interrogating them later.” Prime tapped his chin. “Rumble looks as though he took more of a beating than his brother.” 

“Sideswipe says Thundercracker picked him up and crushed him.” The major was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of Thundercracker’s anger. 

“Speaking of, I was told our seeker friend ran away.” 

“Uh, I wouldn’t say that.” Ayana spoke up. 

The two were a bit surprised to look at her. “What makes you think so?” Prime queried. 

“Well, I was right there when it happened. He was about to tell me how he knew me, when we heard a weird crack next to us. He looked just as surprised as me to see the other one. Then the black robot grabbed him and they were gone.” 

Prime crouched down to see her better. “You don’t seem very shocked about being in an alien base.” 

Ayana shook her head. “Well, it beats being in a barn with ones that want to beat you up.” 

“Indeed.” 

“All I really want to know at this point is, who are you? Why is Marissa here? And what comes next?” 

_“He’s who?!”_

To say it was a bombshell to Ayana when she was told Thundercracker was Josh was an understatement. Prowl had come over at the behest of Prime, and unceremoniously dropped a file on Thundercracker in Ayana’s lap. One of the pictures was of the seeker literally ripping another mech’s leg off with his bare hands, covered in what seemed to be pink blood. It was frankly terrifying. The next picture of was of Josh walking around in the streets in the city. Ayana wasn’t about to ask how they got the pictures. The last part of the file was a transcript of Thundercracker explaining his life as Josh. 

Jesus. She had drinks with him. Marissa and her had gotten wasted with an alien. It was surreal. 

It did explain why Marissa was now here, and that famous news report of her kidnapping made sense. What didn’t clear up, however, was the why. Why would an alien robot drop everything and come to her aid? If he truly was running from his old boss, wouldn’t it make more sense to just run to the Autobots and leave her alone? Maybe guard her in secret? They were robots in disguise, after all. 

Oh. Oh no. It actually made _too much_ sense if it was Josh. 

Pushing that weird thought down, Ayana resolved to get some sleep. Prime had all but told her to shut up and sent her to an assigned room for her. She would talk to Marissa as soon as she woke up. 

\----- 

The stale air rushed into his vents forcefully when Skywarp reached his destination. Thundercracker knew this place like the back of his servo. The Command Trine’s quarters on the Nemesis. It had only been a month and a half since he had last been here, but it already felt like another four million years. The blue seeker had already resigned himself to never seeing it again. He turned to face his captor, “Why are we here?” 

“I said I wanted to talk to you.” The grim look on Skywarp’s face didn’t suit him. “Or rather, we do.” 

At that, Starscream came into the room from the hallway. He looked disinterestedly over at his trinemate. “Ah, good. You’re here. Thank you, Skywarp.” 

“Screamer,” Thundercracker started wearily, “If you think for one second I believe you just happened to show up at the right time...” 

“Shut up. You don’t get to call me that anymore.” 

Both of his trinemates narrowed their optics at the estranged seeker angrily. Their professional façade was now over. “You have one chance to explain yourself, or I’m taking you to Megatron.” Starscream growled. 

“I didn’t leave you, specifically-” 

Starscream strode over and backhanded Thundercracker across the face, claws leaving marks on the side of his faceplates and helm. “Shove that slag up your vents, you don’t get to choose if you actually left us. The fact of the matter is, we are the backbone of the Decepticons. Leaving them means leaving us. Out of all of us, I thought it was going to be me that successfully betrays Megatron.” 

Out of shock, Thundercracker’s knees buckled and fell to the floor. The trine link may have been silenced, but somehow Starscream’s anger was still coming through. Even Skywarp was seething. 

“Why did you bring me here? I find it hard to believe that you went through all the trouble to tracking me down and getting me back to just demand an apology. How did you find me, anyway?” 

“I have my ways, my contacts outside.” Starscream said ambiguously while checking his servo for any paint transfer. “And you’re right, I’ll be taking you to Megatron anyway. This was just a preliminary chat.” 

A purple hand was placed on Thundercracker’s shoulder. “TC, I just... I don’t understand. We’ve all been through something like that. We’re the Command Trine! The elite!” 

Thundercracker looked away. “Even when my side of the link was open, you didn’t even try to understand. You just denied it, treated it like it should be normal. And you,” He looked up at his trine leader. “You cut us off! How was I supposed to take that after I failed?” 

“Since when did you become such a sap?” Starscream scoffed. 

A sap. He’d been called that before by Marissa when he was Josh. To him, Josh was who he would have been if he hadn’t been shaped by war. What felt most natural. It made his spark whirl uncomfortably in his chassis, but admitting to himself that was who he wanted to be made him feel lighter somehow. The Cause, the war, none of it had meaning now. It had weighed heavily on him for so long. He could never actually be Josh, but he could be himself. Marissa made him realize that. 

This could not go on. 

“If I were to continue fighting, it would be to end this eternal nightmare. Megatron can’t honestly promise us an end to this war. He has too much of a personal vendetta against Prime. As long as he is alive, Megatron will hunt him down.” He vented heavily and scowled. “Ask yourself, why did we chase a fleeing, wounded, Autobot ship? There was no one else out there to help them. We would have had Cybertron to ourselves. Maybe we could begin repairing. But no, we just had to go after Prime, under the guise of ‘quashing the Autobot scum.’ Megatron sees soldiers as nothing but cannon fodder to throw at Prime as he sees fit. 

“I want this to end! I want to retire and become a mech that can live a normal life! Four million years has ruined us all. We aren’t fighting for The Cause anymore. We’re stuck in a rut because we know no different at this point. Megatron included.” 

Starscream and Skywarp looked on silently, both faces unreadable. As one, they came over and hauled Thundercracker to his pedes. “We’re expected in the throne room.” Is all Starscream said before they set off. 

There was no sign of anyone in the halls. It was likely that rations had continued to diminish, and most were now in stasis until called upon. This was no life. 

Megatron sat upon his grand throne, servos gripping the arms until the metal dented. Even though he was low on fuel, it did nothing to stem his furious voice from booming across the room. “How dare you bring that traitor back on board? He does not deserve to see his home again.” 

“Of course not,” Starscream purred. “I only thought that since he had so grievously wounded your pride, you would want to... see him off yourself.” 

The Warlord wasn’t so angry as to not be suspicious of his Second. “What are you plotting, seeker?” 

Skywarp spoke up at this. “My lord, when Thundercracker deserted, it was personal to us as well. It’s not something we want to just let him get away with.” 

“Even if he is trine?” 

“Especially since he’s trine.” The trine leader spat out. 

Megatron rose from his seat and slowly stalked over to them. “What do you have to say for yourself, betrayer? I heard you have been with the Autobots.” He put his face close, too close, to Thundercracker’s. “I never pegged you as a coward before. Running to Prime for help when things didn’t go your way here.” 

Thundercracker flinched as his former lord spoke. If he was going to die, he wanted it over quickly. “Soundwave has been captured.” 

That statement had the desired effect when Megatron roared and took him from his trinemates’ hold. His voicebox was still sore from Soundwave’s attack, he scratched weakly at Megatron’s grasp on his throat. “Why didn’t you just kill me when I was deployed on the mission? It would have been so much easier and saved so much resources.” 

“You were to bring me profit!” The Warlord threw him to the ground and ground a heel into his cockpit. “It became clear you were failing. Shockwave had a solution. It worked! We built weapons from the energy and resources! We were at a turning point! Then you came back.” 

Only his trine noticed when Starscream clenched his fist. 

“You just gave up on me?” Thundercracker knew it, but hearing it was another. 

“If you do not make yourself useful, then we will do it for you.” The fusion cannon was brought to the seeker’s face. “Freedom was so close.” 

“No freedom I would want to be a part of.” 

“Then here’s another freedom. Life has kept you caged long enough. Be free.” 

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion at that point. The purple light from the cannon shone on Thundercracker’s face, and he knew the end was here. He felt the power from the oncoming blast brush against his helm. Then Skywarp was there, gripping his arm like his life depended on it. Starscream then gave a deft kick to Megatron’s middle, throwing him off balance and off Thundercracker. Skywarp reached over, touched Starscream, and teleported them to the other side of the throne, just in time for the three to feel Megatron’s cannon explode. It was a fusion weapon, so the blast had the effect of a mini nuclear bomb. Heat ran through their circuits as it washed over them and made their plating pull closer to their protoforms instinctively. 

Then it was over. The heat and noise subsided, and nothing came after. Skywarp peeked around the corner of their hiding place. “That’s it.” 

Starscream roughly pulled Thundercracker around with him. All three stood side by side and stared at the result. 

There was nothing but a burnt husk left. Megatron had fallen. 

“It worked.” Skywarp breathed. 

“Of course it did. I made the weapon, it was but a simple wire cross to cause a major malfunction.” The red and white seeker walked over and gave a kick to the destroyed remains. “I don’t know why I didn’t do that sooner. It did take a while to find a time where he took it off.” 

It took a lot of effort, but Thundercracker finally spoke up. “What the frag just happened?” 

Starscream sniffed. “The old slagger had run his course. His era was over, and he refused to believe it.” He looked into Thundercracker’s optics. “Everything you said earlier was true, he sees us as nothing but expendables for a personal mission. That’s not why we joined the Decepticons. We need to go back home and rebuild. Not chase Prime around if he wants to give up.” 

“So, what, now who’s going to lead? You?” 

“Of course. There are many mechs on board that feel the same way. It will be easy to wake others up and convince them I’m right when I get my servos on fuel.” 

Thundercracker dumbly raised his hand. “And, uh, how will you do that?” 

“You will just have to see. Now, I have a proposition for you.” 

That shocked him. Starscream was still hostile, but much calmer. A calm Starscream was just as dangerous as an angry one. “What do you want?” Thundercracker replied slowly. 

“Join my Decepticons. Be my Second. You are not blinded by this farce of a war. I will clear you of all charges. We will demand respect here on Earth, and we will return victorious to Cybertron. You have a soft spot in your spark for this pathetic planet, so perhaps we will even make Earth a permanent settlement.” 

No matter who lead the Decepticons, Thundercracker knew there would be many who held ill will against him. Many had to have been punished when he escaped. “I’m not well liked around here anymore.” 

“They will have to deal with it. Skywarp has very effective ways of convincing others.” He was familiar with these ways. There wasn’t much a ground frame could do when suddenly teleported into the air. 

He cast his optics downward. “Starscream, you can’t keep me around. You know it. If I were your second, others would refuse to follow you. As much as I want us to stay together, you know it would never work. This is the time for you to rule with an iron fist. Having me around would only weaken you.” 

The throne room smelled of decay already. Skywarp ground his teeth, “It would have been fine if the old fool hadn’t shot you when you had returned.” 

Thundercracker still didn’t look up. “It’s for the best.” 

“She really means that much to you?” The former Second prompted. He wasn’t fooled. Those reasons weren’t everything. 

Opening the trine link up felt like letting go in the best way. He wanted to share everything with the other two. Being closed off from them had been painful, lonely. Thundercracker let his perception of Marissa rush through the link, followed with the sense of comfort and happiness. “She does.” 

“Then go.” Without warning, Starscream severed the trine link. 

All three of them screamed. It felt like a piece of their spark was being pulled out through their processor. Everything burned, everything was agony. Some trines never actually broke up because of the pain and emptiness a severance left, but it did not deter Starscream. 

When the worst was over, Skywarp groaned. “Why, why did it come to this?” 

Even if he had them closed off for a while before, it felt empty without the other two in his head. Thundercracker was devastated it was over, but Starscream had given him a new chapter in life. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. “But thank you.” 

“You can’t ever say I did nothing for you.” Starscream waved a servo weakly. “I have something for you before you go.” He handed over a small black box. “Shockwave apparently made two. He gave you a faulty one on purpose. If he ever shows his face back here, he will have even less of one when I’m done with him.” Then to Skywarp, “Get him out of here. I don’t care where to, just take him away.” 

Skywarp wobbled a little on his way over, but powered up his warp drive as he reached for Thundercracker. “Let’s go.” Starscream’s red optics bored into him as they left, a type of sadness hard to explain lining his features. 

A moment later, they were on the beach of the ocean the Nemesis was under. Thundercracker looked around for an ambush of some kind, but it looked like they were truly alone. A punch to the face sent him sprawling on the ground. 

“That’s for leaving us.” The purple and black seeker growled. “Don’t come back.” 

Rubbing his face, Thundercracker murmured, “I’ll miss you too.” 

The air cracked as it rushed to fill the void that Skywarp left when he teleported. The blue seeker stood. He had a long way to go, and someone was probably looking for him. Knowing her, Marissa had woken up and was raising hell until something was done. 

Thundercracker couldn’t wait to see her again. 

\----- 

Marissa woke up with a gasp. A weird sense of longing was all she felt for a moment before she realized where she was. Ayana jumped up and ran over. “Oh thank god, you’re awake! We were so worried!” 

“You’re here too. We made it.” They held each other tightly, their former lives’ simplicity feeling like a distant memory. 

Dr Hill was called to check up on her shortly thereafter. Marissa was deemed good, recovering. He told her about the damage to her ears, and how to take it easy. After he left though, all she had was one question for Ayana. 

“Where’s Thundercracker?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, Starscream...


	19. Waiting for Afterwards

The Autobot base was very large. It had to be. When your leader was nearly fifty feet tall, most places needed to accommodate someone of that size. NEST had built the base with some help from Prowl as a consultant. He didn’t have any construction experience, but knew more than the humans. Past the checkpoint in the human side of the base, it got smaller, but still fit mechs of a Bumblebee’s or even Jazz’s size comfortably. Most mechs just used a holoform and checked in at the checkpoint with their ID if they ever needed to visit someone on the opposite side to avoid accidentally hurting a human. 

So Marissa knew Sideswipe was in a hurry (or just didn’t care) when she began to step out of her room and was met with his face jammed in the doorway. 

“Uh, hi?” 

“How are you feeling?” 

Well, her ears hurt, everything sounded a bit muted, and she was anxious about Thundercracker’s whereabouts. “I’m fine.” 

“Like Pit I believe that. Get your buddy, come patrolling with me.” 

Marissa put her hand on his nose and pushed, “Move back a little.” He straightened up, but remained on his knees. “What do you mean patrol with you?” 

The lambo put on a self-assured grin. “It’s been four days since you woke up, and you haven’t hardly left your room. I think you need a distraction.” 

“Dr Hill and Ratchet would have my head if I actually did anything besides rest.” Marissa squinted at him. Sideswipe knew that. 

“Which is why _I’m_ driving! You and Ayana can just chill in the seats. I have tinted windows, so don’t worry about being seen. If anyone finds out, just blame me. I’ve had a few stern talking tos and wrenches thrown at me in my time.” 

With a sigh, Marissa admitted to herself that waiting inside her room was driving her insane. They still couldn’t find Thundercracker, and there was no way to contact him because he still had only his short-range comms available. Her mind kept thinking about how Skywarp probably took her friend back to their base where everyone hated him. That was not a pleasant thought. 

Maybe a distraction would help, even for a little bit. 

“Alright, but now we need to go ask Ayana.” Marissa agreed. 

“Good news, already done, and she said yes. So meet me on the Autobot side of the checkpoint in a few breems, and I’ll get us out of here for a little bit.” 

He got up and started to walk away, and something clicked in her head. “Wait! I don’t know how long that is!” 

“About half an hour!” 

Telling Ayana about her adventures in alien contact felt wild with every step she recounted. It had been one thing telling Optimus Prime everything, he was an alien himself. But telling another human? Bizarre. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you got kidnapped? You literally came to work the day after you escaped!” Ayana was a little hurt at first. 

“I wanted to tell someone, but it just didn’t seem real. It’s not like I had anyone to back me up after that too. Josh was gone.” 

Telling Ayana about how Josh had ‘died’ and woken back up as Thundercracker was what got her attention the most. The fact that the man they both knew was just a fake body designed to fool humans was cause for concern. 

“What happened to Josh when Thundercracker put him away?” Ayana asked. 

Marissa cocked her head upwards, thinking. “I once asked him about it. He said had given it over to Ratchet, but was worried about trying to get it working again in case he caused him to crash again. He still has the control device in his head. He said it interferes with making a normal holoform, so he’s stuck without one for the moment.” 

There was a lot to go over. Marissa by no means knew everything, but she was able to give Ayana a basic overview of the ‘Bots and the base. It was good to have her friend, and someone to experience the strangeness of it all with. 

Marissa and Ayana crossed the checkpoint and met Sideswipe’s holoform on the other side. “Let’s get a little more out of sight before you get in. Most people know I patrol at this time, and would be suspicious if they saw you with me.” 

Ayana ran over and grabbed Sideswipe’s arm. “Wow! It looks so real!” 

The Autobot was startled, “Yeah, I mean, it’s designed to. We just keep our distance because it doesn’t exactly feel real if you touch it.” 

“Yeah, that is weird.” She squeezed and the arm blurred a bit. 

Sideswipe jerked away. “Stop that, it takes energy to keep this up and tangible. Now come on, let’s get going.” 

He led them around the corner and to his waiting alt form. The door opened before they got there, Ayana took the front passenger side, Marissa spread out in the back seats, and Sideswipe’s holoform set himself up in the driver’s side. “Alright, let’s go!” The engine revved, and he sped off down the hallway and to the exit garage. A light over the large door turned green as he approached, and began to open. It looked like he was going to crash before it opened enough, but with a whoop, he sped through with maybe an inch or two to spare of either side. 

Sideswipe weaved in and out of the trees surrounding them before finally finding the road. He gave an exaggerated sigh that came from the dashboard instead of the holoform, “Ah! It feels good to be outside and cut loose!” 

“Please don’t cut too loose, I might get car sick because of my ear damage. I really don’t want to throw up inside you.” Marissa warned. 

A disgusted sound. “Eurgh. Right. Being organic has some serious setbacks.” 

They settled for a nice cruising speed as they traveled down the highway. There was a small town nearby they would be passing through, but for now, it was nice to watch the scenery go by without having to worry about their destination. The last time she was in a vehicle, it was Ironhide on their way to Soundwave. This was much more relaxing. 

The three of them chatted throughout the drive, talking about nothing in particular. After a while, Marissa found herself staring up at the sky, willing a blue jet to appear out of nowhere and ease her mind. 

Actually, it kind of looked like there was already a plane flying pretty low. Too low so close to town. 

Wait. 

That was a _blue_ jet. 

“Holy shit!” Marissa slammed her fist on the door when it dawned on her what she was looking at. 

“Hey! Watch it!” Sideswipe snapped, “I may be a car, but that still hurt!” 

“Look! Look at that!” She pointed out the window. 

Sideswipe swerved and parked like a drunk driver. “Primus, I can’t believe he’s flying like that! His wing looks like it’s about to fall off!” He peeled out and began to chase the jet. The right wing was shaking violently. There was no way he was going to last much longer. 

“Blaster! Pick up, I’ve spotted Thundercracker. He’s headed back towards base!” Sideswipe called out to his Communications Officer. 

A crackle over the radio and an answer. “He’s back?! Can you contact him?” 

“I’ll try. Currently I’m chasing him and trying to catch up. It doesn’t look like he will be airborne for long, and I’d rather he lands at base.” 

“Gotcha. Let me know as soon as you can.” 

At this point, Thundercracker was flying near the road, allowing Sideswipe to get closer. He sent out a ping on Thundercracker’s private comms. “TC! Hey! Is that you? Tell me if you can hear me!” 

There was static for a few moments, and Marissa was afraid he still couldn’t hear them. Then his voice came over the radio. “It’s me, I hear you. I had to let self-repair fix my wing a little before trying to head back. It’s still not ideal.” 

“That’s for sure! Come on, get back to base! There’s no way that doesn’t hurt! Blaster is expecting you. I can’t follow you straight there, so I’ll meet you there. I have a few people with me that are also very happy to see you.” 

“Marissa’s with you?” The jet’s voice cracked. “She’s alive and OK?” 

The woman in question leaned forward between the seats and shouted at the radio. “I’m here! I’m fine!” 

“He can’t hear you like that.” Sideswipe commented, then to Thundercracker. “She says she missed you!” Mischievous little... 

“I missed her too.” The admission sounded so honest. Marissa decided not to yell at Sideswipe about it. 

The Lamborghini chuckled. “Now, head back. I’ll let them know you’ll be there in a minute. See you in a bit! Sideswipe out.” 

“Thundercracker out.” The jet banked and headed towards the mountains.

Ayana turned around and grabbed Marissa’s shoulder. The women gave each other a look of relief. Things were finally looking up. 

\----- 

He got to base not a moment too soon. Autobot command was very wary of Thundercracker when he literally crashed back into base. The wing that Soundwave had disconnected was sparking again, and causing him a lot of misery. He transformed back into root mode as soon as he was through the door, and screeched across the floor inelegantly. It was a struggle to regain his balance with a loose wing throwing him off. Prowl and Jazz were there to escort him to Prime for a debriefing, there was no way they were just going to let it slide that his trinemate had taken him away for a while. 

The debriefing happened in the command room, but Ratchet brought his tools to secure Thundercracker's wing while they talked. Everyone stilled though when Thundercracker relayed the final betrayal that happened on The Nemesis. 

Prime finally spoke, “You’re telling me, that Starscream finally succeeded, and Megatron truly is no more?” 

“That’s correct.” 

His engine rumbled with discomfort. “I’m honestly not sure if this is a good or bad turn of events.” 

Thundercracker chuckled at that. “I think you’ll be alright. You’ll just have to wait for him to contact you.” 

“You think he will?” Prowl sounded skeptical. 

“I know he will. First, he needs to brag. Second, he wants off this planet. I have a feeling now that humanity knows we are around, it will be easier for us to get enough fuel to leave.” 

“But what does that have to do with us?” 

“Please. Give Starscream a little credit. He knows he won’t be able to charm the humans like Prime will. He didn’t tell me his plans, but that’s what I would imagine him doing, and after a few million years with him, I would think I know him well enough to guess some things.” 

Optimus considered this information. “Why didn’t you stay? Surely it is better for you to stay with those who share your ideals.” 

Thundercracker finished his story saying that the Command Trine was split up. “There’s nothing left for me there.” 

Of course, it wouldn’t be a meeting of the Autobot minds unless Prowl complained about something. “So what, we are just supposed to believe you? Like you said, you were with Starscream for millions of years, so you could be a spy for him.” 

Wings twitched in annoyance, causing Ratchet to grumble more when the movement threw him off. The seeker knew Prowl had a point, so he offered the only thing he could think of, even if it felt deeply raw and personal. “Well, I’m not about to let you get a mnemosurgeon in here, but the next best thing is to check my trine coding. Ratchet, are you familiar with that?” 

The medic stopped his work for a moment, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but yes, I’d recognize it if I came across it.” 

“Good. I’ve just been through a severance. I won’t have that anymore.” The blue jet looked at Prowl and Prime. “If Ratchet can’t find trine coding, will that be enough to prove that I’m not here for Starscream?” 

“What,” began Prime, “exactly is a severance?” 

“Basically, it’s when the Trine Leader forcibly deletes the code that allows to us subconsciously communicate and share a particular brainwave. Severances rarely happen, because let me tell you, it’s not a pleasant feeling to have such deep set code wiped. We get pretty dependent on each other, so some mental trauma is almost always guaranteed as well. So,” he held out his wrist to Ratchet and opened his medical port, “check it out. I’m not trined to Starscream and Skywarp anymore.” 

Of course, Ratchet didn’t find the code. The Autobots accepted his explanation for now. It was demanded of him to visit Ratchet regularly if mental issues might pop up, but other than that, he was sent back to his room and told to wait. For what, he wasn’t sure. They probably didn’t know what to do with him. 

Thundercracker took a seat on the edge of his berth and pulled out the black box Starscream had gifted him. He knew exactly what it was, but it was hard to believe the new Decepticon Lord would just give it away. It would have given him a vessel to better interact with humans. For someone who spat on every emotion expressed, Starscream could be a sentimental fool. 

Unsure if it would work, the blue seeker pulled out the mechanism and tried to connect with it. A gentle ping in his head confirmed it was viable and ready to form a body. Before delving into it, he wanted someone there to make sure he wasn’t fucked over again. 

:Sideswipe, I need a favor.: 

The answer was almost immediate. :Another one?: 

:Can you grab some human male’s clothes for me and head over to my room? I want to try something.: 

:OK, but this already sounds pretty weird.: 

It didn’t take long for Sideswipe to get there with the garments. “You do know Marissa is waiting for you to call her and tell her you’re ready to meet her?” 

“Yes yes, that’s why I need you here. I want to try to activate my holoform unit.” 

“I thought it was confiscated.” 

“But I got another one. I want to try it out. If it works, it will be a great surprise for Marissa.” Thundercracker placed the item in his servo on the ground. Even if it was built to be more resilient than a normal human body, he didn’t want to try jumping off the berth just yet. 

“Man, I think she will be happy to see you either way. You’re over thinking this.” The red Autobot rolled his optics. 

“Just humor me, ok?” He laid back on the berth and powered down. It wasn’t quite stasis this time, but it was deep enough to conserve energy at a higher level. 

Sideswipe would later tell him how horrific it was to watch the body form. A black goo came from the cables, writhed and twisted, and became layers of artificial organic skin and organs. After forming, the body paled until it became recognizable as a human. It sat up and opened its’ eyes; they were a bright ruby red on an otherwise normal human face. 

“Hey, you there? You remember everything?” A black servo waved in front of the man’s face. 

His hands explored the body he was now in, pinching and poking the skin and stroking the hair. “I’m here. I’m OK. It worked.” His voice was giddy with excitement. It only took a moment for him to slip the clothes on. They didn’t fit quite right, the shirt was a bit too small and the pant were too short. It didn’t deter him as he walked to the door. 

“Can you open this for me?” 

Sideswipe pushed the open button, “Want me to drive you there?” 

“No, no. I want to get a feel for this again. She’s going to be so surprised!” He bounced on the balls of his feet, reading himself for a run. “Thanks! I’ll see you later!” With a wave, the man took off. 

Now that he was in control of everything, he found he could access his comms from this body as well. He called the only important person in the world. “Marissa! Where are you?” 

“Thundercracker! Have they finally released you? Where are you? I’m in my room.” 

“Stay right there, I’m coming over!” 

“Shouldn’t I meet you at the checkpoint?” 

“No, just wait for me!” 

Thundercracker was fast. He knew normal humans couldn’t run like this, it was exciting to learn that this body was more powerful. He would have to find its limits later. 

At the checkpoint, he vaulted over the gate, causing the guards to scramble. It was seven feet high. They almost began to chase him when Thundercracker’s ID lit up. “I didn’t realize he had gotten a holoform. That scared me.” One of the men groaned. “Should we go get him to check in properly?” 

“Nah, we’ll get him next time.” Another guard waved it off. “He’s obviously gonna go see his girlfriend.” The others laughed. 

The hallway to Marissa’s was around the next corner, so the seeker slowed down a bit to prepare to turn. Right as he rounded it, he passed by the woman herself. It took her a second, but recognition dawned on her when he spun around sharply and landed on his hands and knees in a position that suggested he was about to take off running again. 

Marissa’s mouth hung open slightly, her eyes crawled over Thundercracker. Then, ever so softly, softer than he had ever heard her speak, she uttered, “Josh?” 

He got to his feet, standing about a body’s length away from her, waiting. “It’s me.” 

Words caught in her throat, but she had one more question. “Thundercracker?” 

“It’s still me.” 

Like a water behind a breaking dam, she released the breath she had been holding and rushed towards him. He let go of his last ounce of self control and met her in the middle, wrapping his arms tightly around her. They both clawed at the other’s shirts, grasping and releasing the cloth like they couldn’t decide how to hold the other. Marissa buried her face in his neck while Thundercracker hugged her as tightly as he thought was safe. 

“I thought you might have been killed.” The woman’s voice shook as she spoke into his skin. 

His fingers trailed through her auburn hair. “No, I’m back, I’m here. I was actually afraid Soundwave had killed you. I was hoping for the best, but I was still scared.” A nervous laugh came from each of them. Nearly without thought, Thundercracker placed a kiss on the top of her forehead. 

At first he was afraid she was backing away in repulsion, so he apologized. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why-“ he was cut short when she grabbed his face and pulled it down into a crushing kiss against her lips. His hands left her hair and began to make their way down her back, and she responded by pushing herself somehow closer into him. The seeker wanted to melt, it felt like Marissa was hotter than his thrusters in a dogfight. 

It seemed Thundercracker was destined to get very familiar with the human body right then and there, when they were suddenly interrupted. 

“I fucking knew it!” Ayana’s accusing voice rang down the hallway. 

Jerking back almost guiltily from each other, they turned towards her. “Knew what?” Thundercracker asked. 

“You two have been a thing without actually being a thing for so long I thought I was going to have to write a thirty page paper explaining it to you! God. Once I knew you were Josh, your weird protectiveness and her weird familiarity made sense.” 

Marissa placed a hand on her face. “Ayana, please stop talking.” 

Ayana had a swagger in the way she walked up to them. “Either way, it’s good to see you, Josh. Or Thundercracker? Which is better?” 

Shrug. “Either or, like this. I’m me either way this time. Please don’t write a paper.” 

\----- 

“Major Lennox, I represent the USA Government. We need to talk.” A well-dressed man was led into the base by a nervous, confused soldier. Any visit today was unannounced. 

“I’m afraid even though you know me, I can’t say I know who you are.” The major replied. He had been busy in the garage, cleaning up a few fine scratches on Ironhide’s doors. 

“Of course. My name is Bill Fowler. I’m a special agent. Special because _aliens_ are the type of thing they send me to take care of.” The agent stuck his hand out for a handshake. 

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” Lennox shook the hand with a grip like iron. 

Fowler smirked. “Please, drop the act. And tell your partner here to stand up and talk to me too. This deals with everyone here.” 

The command hung in the air like a bomb waiting to drop. Lennonx knew not to mess with the government, so he rapped on Ironhide’s hood. “Get up. He knows.” 

Ironhide took his time transforming in an act of intimidation. He didn’t know if Fowler had seen his race before, but he was damn well going to make sure he was going to remember him. When he completed the transformation sequence, he knelt down and offered his hand to the agent. “My designation is Ironhide.” 

Special Agent Fowler didn’t seem the least bit cowed, and even shook the weapons specialist’s hand as best he could. “Nice meeting you. Now, if you could excuse the phrase, take me to your leader. There’s a lot we have to talk about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done! I can't believe how far it's come!


	20. Now the Doors are Opening for You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title brought to you by "You and I" by Barns Courtney, basically the theme song for this whole story for me.

Optimus hated politics. 

As a Prime, he was expected to be a politician to some extent, even if he was a military leader. Some would say it was blessing, to know both sides of the argument from a warrior and a bureaucrat’s end. 

Oh, how wrong that was. All it did was make him increasingly frustrated when one side refused to understand his position. Wars were never clean, and they were full of unexpected twists and turns that those sitting behind a desk would never be able to make sense of. Now that Cybertron had barely any society to speak of anymore, Megatron was the only other mech he would try to talk politics with. Keyword, try. The old miner was stubborn bastard, and they never got anywhere with political deals. Optimus was tired of banging his helm against the metaphorical (or not so metaphorical) wall. 

Usually, he made Prowl and Jazz deal with politicians on Earth. While much easier to deal with than Megatron, the humans were untrusting, yet wily creatures, and demanded they create a base to allow other humans to watch and work with the aliens away from most human knowledge and contact. There was very few mechs in command that had an issue with that, so NEST was founded. As long as they weren’t violating the Tyrest Accord, they were fine sharing some technologies. Lennox made his regular reports with Ironhide and Optimus, and the government seemed appeased. 

All good, or even just comfortable things, must come to an end, however. 

As soon as Lennox and Prime reported Thundercracker’s stay with them to their government representative, all hell broke loose. Since Thundercracker had exposed Cybertronian existence, now a statement had to be issued. Someone had to take the fall for the ‘invasion.’ Both Prime and Lennox knew that would be them. They were just surprised it had taken this long for someone from the government to appear.

When Fowler showed up, neither were surprised to find he was who the government sent. They weren’t sure what the verdict would be, or perhaps just punishment. 

When Autobot Command had gathered along with Lennox and Fowler in the command center, the hand slapping began. 

“First,” began the special agent from his position in the middle of the table, “I would really like to know what the hell you think you’re doing.” 

“Which part of our doing are you referring to?” Lennox asked. 

“The part where you harbor someone you’ve described as a member of a war mongering, power hungry faction. I’ve read the dossier, and he doesn’t sound like someone I’d like to meet. I know you’ve said he was actually saving the woman he nabbed, but that’s not what he world sees, and definitely not what was previously described. So help me out here. What do you think I’m here to do?” 

Optimus was silent for a moment before answering. “I assume you are here to declare us an enemy and shut us down.” 

“Dammit, Prime. I don’t _want_ to do that. You’ve said you can’t leave Earth yet, and the USA isn’t wanting to start a space war just yet. But there was a small town in New Mexico that was tragically obliterated about two months ago, and with the reveal of aliens, heads gotta roll somewhere. That’s an all out declaration of war.” 

“Excuse me.” All turned to Prowl. “That wasn’t us. Thundercracker said it was our opposing leader’s idea to try and make humanity submit to him. I have no love for the seeker, but that does sound like something Megatron would do.” 

“Great, and the reports here can back up that you guys have made no such weapons. I can make something up to tell the big wigs back in Washington about that.” Fowler took out a pen and notebook. “Always need a big bad to blame something on. You guys can appeal saying you need to go after him.” 

“Uh, he’s dead, man.” The spymaster, Jazz, spoke up this time. 

A deep sigh came from Fowler, he looked up and gave Optimus a thousand yard stare. “How do we know this?” 

“Thundercracker said…” 

“You know what. I’ve had enough of just hearing about this Thundercracker guy. Send him in. I’m gonna talk to him directly.” 

Upon receiving the summons to the command center, Thundercracker shut down his holoform unit down and began heading over in his real frame. It felt inappropriate otherwise. He wanted to stay with Marissa, but he knew something like this would happen sooner or later. Nothing was ever done cleanly. 

The door opened as soon as he let Ironhide know he was there. One thing that annoyed him about the doors in this base was the fact none of them were built for someone of his wingspan. Something he lamented all the time, but now more than ever, because he had to convince the human government he wasn’t a threat or an idiot. Walking in the room tilted a little sideways to avoid hitting his wings on the doorframe didn’t make him feel very impressive. The seeker straightened up and let the door close behind him, looking for the agent that had requested an audience with him. 

“Red eyes, huh? I never really stopped to think you guys could have different eye color.” 

Thundercracker’s optics fell on a man he did not recognize, and felt it was safe to assume he was Agent Fowler. “A lot of the Decepticons have red as their optic color. Back in the old days before the brand, there was a movement to make red optics our official color. Most of us already had it, being working class, and didn’t change it after the brand became our symbol.” 

Fowler considered the jet before him. “So, we finally meet, Thundercracker.” 

“I feel as though you’ve heard more about me than I of you.” 

“Well, you’ve caused me a lot of paperwork and headaches. Prime never told you, but the US government has been watching you with great interest. Not only do you announce to the entire world that you’re here, you run to the bosom of your long time enemy. There’s not enough bribing and covering up we can do to deny you guys exists anymore. The internet moves too fast.” Fowler held his arms up in an exaggerated shrug. “So we are in a weird situation. We don’t want to break ties with you, but we also have to make a statement.” 

“Are you going to send us to Area 51?” Thundercracker asked seriously. 

“What? No. Believe it or not, other stuff goes on there. Nothing to do with aliens. Anyway,” Fowler got up from his chair and walked across the giant table toward the seeker. “Word has it that your old leader has kicked the bucket.” 

That idiom was lost on the Cybertonians, but they could deduce from the context what he meant. “He’s dead, if that’s what you mean.” 

“And you saw this?” 

It was tiring relaying the whole story over only a few hours after he first time. Fowler seemed to realize this and stopped him when he got to explaining Starscream. 

“Good enough. If this Starscream does contact you, I’ll expect another report. For now, I should tell you, the government has already made a decision on NEST.” 

There wasn’t any sound except the whirring of the mechanical lifeform’s bodies. “You’re all fired. NEST has been officially dissolved.” Was the announcement. 

Surprisingly, it was Prowl that seemed to take the most offense to that. “So where does that leave us?!” 

“Oh no no no. I’m also here to offer you a job.” 

“I get it. NEST is the scapegoat, and you have another name for us to go by.” Jazz grinned. 

“Precisely. As I recall, you mentioned in reports that another organization called MECH was out there, kidnapping humans and mechs alike. Your services are still needed. I brought an old friend of mine here to help me explain a few things. Get your two human visitors in here as well, I’m sure they’ll be pleasantly surprised to see him too.” 

“I don’t see the point of calling just Thundercracker if they’re going to call for us right after.” Marissa groused. 

“Oh come on, it’s not that far of a walk. You just need more coffee.” Ayana reached over and tapped the thermos in Marissa's hand. “You have half of that left over.” 

Marissa took a swig of the caffeine and sighed. The women walked towards the command center at a pace just a little faster than normal. Neither of them were looking forward to the meeting. They weren’t sure what to expect. 

Standing at the front of the door to the command center was a woman wearing a yellow and black jumpsuit, staring at her phone. She startled when Marissa and Ayana drew closer, “Oh! Wow, you scared me there. You guys walk pretty quietly.” 

“Are you the special agent?” Ayana asked. 

“Oh god no. I’d never want to work around all that red tape. No, I’m just Dani.” The woman stuck out her hand. 

Marissa took her hand and gave it a firm shake. “You’re not wearing a uniform. You don’t work here?” 

“Nope.” Dani replied, popping the p in the word. “I’m just here because I had to give my father and his partner a lift here. I say I gave him a lift, but it was my own partner that did all the work, really.” 

It felt like she talking about something they should know about, or in code. Dani gestured with her thumb point behind her and grinned. “I know you’re not here to talk to me. So head on inside. They’re waiting.” 

“Right. See you later, I guess.” Marissa gave a little wave. 

“Probably!” she replied brightly. 

The door opened, showing that Thundercracker standing just inside, away from the table where obviously everyone was supposed to be at. Marissa shouted up at him to let him know they were there. The seeker looked down with a mild expression on his face. Something was worrying him, and he was doing a bad job at hiding it. He bent down and offered them his hand, and took them over to the table. Marissa and Ayana’s jaws dropped in unison when someone they recognized stepped forward to greet them. 

“Chief Burns?!” 

“Faireborn, Jones. Nice to see you are both OK.” 

“What are you doing here?” Marissa asked. 

“I’m here to tell you some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” 

Marissa shook her head violently, trying to make sense of this situation. She looked up at Optimus. “Do you guys just like cops or something?” 

“No, Chief Burns has been with us for a while now. We needed some of ours out there to learn about humans outside of a military setting. He had a contact that brought him to us, and now that we’ve met Fowler, it makes sense why it was Burns.” 

Fowler stepped up beside Burns and slapped him on the back in a friendly manner. “And what are the odds that two of yours get wrapped up in all this?” 

Burns shrugged, “I wish I had known. Apparently, _someone_ came to work a day after running around like a madman with a Cybertronian.” He looked pointedly at Marissa. 

“What was I supposed to tell you?” 

“Fair point. Anyway, we’re off track. We will start with the good news. MECH is gone. After Optimus told me you were here and the story of why, we looked into it.” He turned around. “Prowl, if you please.” 

A few buttons later, a picture of a large opening carved out of a side of the mountain that looked vaguely familiar opened on the main screen. “I accompanied a team to explore the coordinates given to us by Thundercracker. We were expecting resistance, but the lab was completely empty. It looks like they took everything they could and ran. That leads me to the bad news. We don’t know where they went.” 

Fowler spoke up. “And that’s where the EDC comes in.” 

One long and complicated explanation later, they were asked to join the Earth Defense Command. It was basically NEST with more government involvement. Marissa agreed with little hesitation. 

“I can’t sit around knowing there are mechs and people out there that want to destroy us. Writing tickets for speeders or complaining about Luskey spending city funds won’t stop MECH or Shockwave, but if I can contribute by working here, then I’m all for it.” 

Fowler nodded. “Excellent. We will iron out the details later. Thundercracker?” 

The seeker also agreed to join. “I’m not really wanting to fight anymore, but like Marissa said. Shockwave and MECH are still out there. I won’t let them just walk away from this.” Internally, he added that he wouldn’t walk away from Marissa either. 

“Perfect. I will be contacting you both very soon with what we need to do. Welcome to the EDC.” 

\----- 

“Sideswipe should _not ever_ be allowed to sing.” Marissa comically covered her ears in protest. 

Later on in the evening, Marissa, Thundercracker, Ayana, and Sideswipe were gathered around a table in Thundercracker’s room, drinking and relaxing. Sideswipe had gotten some pretty strong engex, and Ayana had brought a case of beer she had somehow snagged. Sideswipe probably helped her. The lambo had chugged his share the fastest, and decided that he wanted to teach the human women a few Cybertronian songs. Not much of the songs translated cleanly to English, so it already sounded stilted and confusing. Singing louder didn’t make it any better. Even Thundercracker cringed when he began to sing as loud as his voice box would let him. 

“I agree. I think I need to drink more so I can ignore him harder.” He mumbled back to Marissa on his shoulder. 

Marissa chuckled. Ayana began to try to shout over Sideswipe’s ever-increasing volume, when that didn’t work, she ran over and began pounding on his chassis. Sideswipe stopped only to begin to whine that she was ruining his polish. 

Moving forward was going to be a challenge. Shockwave and MECH weren’t going to be found easily, and then weren’t going to come peacefully. Chief Burns had said he was investigating Mayor Luskey for working with MECH to see if he could get any more information. Now that she was officially working the Autobots and government, she would be allowed to know if anything new was uncovered. That gave her a little peace of mind. Working for the EDC wasn’t what she imagined herself doing when she had gotten out of the army to ‘make a life for herself.’ 

“Hey.” 

Marissa’s train of thought derailed when Thundercracker’s helm tilted towards her. “Yeah? What’s up?” 

“Stop worrying yourself. We’ll figure out everything later. Just take the time we have tonight to wind down.” 

“I’m not worrying-” A large finger poked her in the stomach, making her halt. 

“Yes, you are. Now shoosh.” He took a drink from his cube. “Stress later. Or I’ll tell Dr Hill you’re not resting enough.” 

Marissa grabbed a cable in his neck she knew to be sensitive, making his vents stutter. “Don’t you dare.” 

They would tie up the other loose ends sooner than later. Thundercracker was right, she needed to relax. Marissa leaned against Thundercracker’s helm and hummed thoughtfully. His optics shifted back to her. 

“What are you thinking about?” 

“I’m glad you were my neighbor.” 

“Me too.” 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even though Ayana and Sideswipe were still yelling at each other, in that moment, it felt like Marissa and Thundercracker were the only ones in the room. 

They were right where they were supposed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap!  
> Thank you all so much for reading my first fic! Thank you for the views, comments, and kudos! It all was so very flattering someone wanted to read this thing that had been in my head for months. These two hold a special place in my heart, and I felt like they needed more attention.  
> If you feel like it ended too soon, that's because I left it opened ended on purpose. I'm hoping I can get a part 2 out sooner than later.  
> Again, thank you for the encouragement by joining me on this journey.


End file.
